Book Zero The Sacrifice
by Bloodlines DMC
Summary: Book Zero of the Bloodlines Anthology. Set a year after DMC3 and ten years before Book One. Look in the prologue for a more in depth synopsis of the story. Dante x OC - Please R&R and enjoy! !
1. Prologue What Sleep May Come

_Author's Note: This story is Book Zero in an Anthology called "Bloodlines" being written currently by myself and __**Kazeninoru**__. It is a prequel to the entire series, taking place about a year or so after DMC3, and about ten years before Book One; The Harvest. All of that aside, this Fan Anthology doesn't own Devil May Cry or any of the characters from the series. However, we do claim to own our own OC's and with that said, give props to ____ for creating Devil May Cry. !!_

_Synopsis: Getting news from Lady of a cult of Demon Worshipers being reported in what a city slicker like Dante might call the wild west, he decides to take on the case. But when he arrives, he realizes this case is really just a wild goose chase, though the longer he stays, the worse things seem to turn out, ultimately leading to The Sacrifice._

_Regan Davison is a down to Earth horse rancher, her ranch of Black Wing Creek coming under fire when unknown activities begin to take place around it that seem to only really begin when a cocky devil hunter shows up that she really has no use for at first but whom eventually gains her trust and respect. Finding she really has no one else to trust to ensure the safety of everything she has, Regan learns that sacrificing things is sometimes a necessity to live, and to die._

_Prologue - What Sleep May Come_

Didn't anyone ever think of _his_ needs?

Dante could only wonder that when he'd read the price for a particular job he'd gotten scribbled onto a note by a customer who'd wanted to hire him. While the price hadn't been the reason Dante had turned the job down, in the end, Dante Sparda had figured price wasn't always the ultimate decision maker when it came to what he would and wouldn't do, he still couldn't help but wonder how someone could expect him to spend that much time on something and then only pay him several hundred bucks that in the end wouldn't even make his shop insurance payment. It was all too apparent to Dante at that point; People were stingy and greedy at the same time. Kinda sucked when it came to him making money decently.

The note still laying on his desk, he grabbed it and wadded it up, then tossed it across the room and into the trash can without much effort. Following the movement he yawned loudly and reached up to scratch his chest where his shirt was unbuttoned, showing off a slight bit of skin, just idly sitting for the moment, taking a break. He was actually trying to figure out which magazine he'd wanted to read, he'd gotten two new ones in the mail, and they continued to lay untouched on the desk.

Looking between the two colorful books, ignoring the bills in the middle, he wished he didn't know which one he'd placed where, then he'd just close his eyes and pick up one at random. It really didn't matter to him which once he read first, he just didn't want one to be shitty while the other was interesting, and then read the shitty one first and bore himself. One magazine was about cars, the other was about rock music. Dante was about both. And in his spare hours, being as early as it was, he really needed something to do.

In fact, he suddenly wondered, why the hell was he even awake anyway?

Oddly enough though, he'd woken up at the wee hours of ten o'clock, wee when you were a night owl like him, and felt like he'd slept for ten years. Shaking his head, he just grabbed the rock music magazine and flipped open the first page. Hell, if it were boring, maybe it'd put him back to sleep until something interesting started going on around the shop. Damned Mondays, they were so fuckin' useless.

Looking up the articles and turning to a page on a band he liked in specific, he'd gotten through the first line of 'Their new album promises to be the best we've seen yet', making him curious about what the article would say about it, when the phone rang. Eleven on a Monday morning and the phone was ringing? Dante narrowed his brows. Damned if he knew there was life on this ungodly day at this ungodly time in the morning, otherwise he might've gotten up on a more regular basis to have seen what it was.

So he reached for the phone. Answering it, someone asked for a Michelle, and he rolled his eyes. "Sounds cute, but she doesn't live here," he replied and hung up the phone. Not thinking anything else about it, he picked his magazine back up and read that same first line again, hearing the phone ring a second time. Dante eyed the thing suspiciously. Then he picked up the receiver. Someone asked for Michelle once more.

"Like I said, wrong number. If you're trying to make a call back after a date, I don't think she likes you very much."

He hung up again. "Alright magazine, now," he grabbed the edges of the book once more and went to lift it slowly when the phone rang once more, resulting in him slamming it down and picking up the receiver a third time, "This is Michelle speaking, I'm actually a man, just thought you should know."

"Very funny, Michelle, it's Lady. Why are you up so early?"

Dante rolled his eyes, "Don't ask, and if you thought I was asleep, why are you calling me this early?"

"Just on a blind hope that you were so I could make sure I wouldn't waste a trip to your shop. Look, I'll be by shortly, I've picked up wind of a pretty big job."

"Sounds good, but we'll see," Dante replied skeptically. "I'll be here."

"See ya in a few," she told him, and then hung up.

Dante put his own phone back down and sighed, "Okay, now to find out about this," he stopped when the phone rang again. "Goddamn it," he lifted the phone to his ear, "Devil May Cry." His look got bland. "Okay, look dude, what do you _not_ get? That this is a business from how I answer the phone, or that I've told you twice now that Michelle doesn't live here?" Then he listened to the man on the other end and finally, he rolled his eyes, "it's the wrong area code, same number."

He hung up again on the guy, and swore that if that phone rang again in the next fifteen seconds, he'd rip it out of the wall.

Nothing happened. Fifteen seconds passed, not one ring was made. "Good, now maybe I can read more than one line."

Dante had read most of the article, which had done its job in interesting him in the new album coming out, when Lady walked through the doors, a pair of red shades covering her eyes to block out the early morning sunlight and she looked at Dante as she headed toward his desk, reading his magazine. Stopping on the other side of the furniture he was sitting behind, she put one hand on the surface and leaned, trying to see what he was reading out of curiosity. Dante had just put his magazine down and he glanced up at her. She smirked, "I think I've got a keeper."

"We'll see, won't we?" He replied, turning in his chair and putting his boots up on his desk. "So, spit it out and tell me whatcha got."

Tilting her head as she turned away from him, she got started, "Well, last night I made a new contact. He's an Italian, goes by the name Enzo, and he seems to know a lot of people who need jobs done for them. He got me into contact with a guy named Nathan Morrison who seems to have an infestation on his hands." Lady looked back in Dante's direction and she added, "He seemed a little fanatical when I talked to him, but the more I listened, the more I realized he was onto something."

Dante didn't really give Lady a reply. He just took in what she said and followed it up with the words, "Go on, I'm listening."

"Well, about a week ago, he and his young daughter were attacked by some cultists who had apparently been led to him by a group of demons, all of them cloaked in black. They tried to kill him, he doesn't know why, or at least, that's what he claimed."

"Yeah, we're all guilty 'til proven innocent, right?" Dante crossed his fingers in his lap and then he suddenly yawned again without warning. The yawn made Lady raise her brows a bit. After all, it _was_ kind of early, and Dante usually stayed up pretty late. She wondered if he was as awake as he'd thought he was.

"You sure you're gonna make it?" She asked him.

"Yeah," he shook his head off quickly, "I don't know why the fuck I woke up for, but I felt pretty good when I did. Guess I'll just go take a nap once you get your little story over with."

"Right," Lady nodded, walking over to his desk and taking a seat on it, opposite side on which he sat, watching him through her shades. "Then I'll make this quick. Essentially, he wants you to go check out a place called Black Wing Creek, it's a horse ranch and I looked them up before I came here, they're legit. He said he thinks the cultists are staying there."

"A horse ranch, huh? Cowboys, all that shit?"

"Exactly. It's owned and run by a woman named Regan Davison. Whether or not she has anything to do with it I don't know, but Nathan never mentioned her. The only thing I _can_ tell you is that the demons who led this cult group to attack him referred to themselves as Democrites."

"Democrats, what?" Dante sounded confused. Why the hell would a cult group name themselves after a political party, well, aside the fact that politics _was_ a cult.

"No," Lady pointed out, "Demo_crites_, with an 'i-t-e', not an a. I looked it up, and it led me to information on a very old demon named Democrities which, to be honest, there wasn't much written about him, but that's where I knew this would be a big deal. As arrogant as Demons are, it seems like they don't like to leave a lot of information about themselves in the human world if they're important at all. But what I did find said that he was the son of an enemy of Sparda, and after Sparda destroyed his father, he took over the, well, family line I suppose you could say."

Dante scoffed, putting his hands up behind his head. "Sounds like your average clusterfuck to me. So, what are these Democrites after anyway?"

"Well, it's anyone's guess, but that's what we need to find out, isn't it?"

Lady stood up, apparently done telling her tale, and she watched Dante for a moment to see how he'd react to the information. After meeting him in Temen-Ni-Gru, and working with him on a few cases so far, she'd learned that Dante seemed to take cases more often if the stakes were higher, if the danger toward humans was greater, and that he rarely let money be an all encompassing determining factor. She appreciated that, no matter how difficult he could be when it came to getting his interests up in something she knew for a fact could be deadly and destructive whilst he sat idly by and cracked jokes about it.

Dante sighed, then he put his feet on the floor and stood up, shrugging his shoulders, "I'm not sure about that, Lady. You're the one who seems to like theology, why don't _you_ go look into it?"

Lady sighed, having known he was going to bring up something like that "Because your father was involved with this apparently. And this is the first time I've seen a case that even relates in any way to Sparda."

She had him there. Dante cringed, "So what?" He turned around, holding his hands out by his sides as if to say it wasn't his problem, "My Dad had his own shit to take care of, I have mine. I didn't open this shop to cut off _his_ lose ends."

Lady gave Dante a look that said she wasn't stupid and knew that. "I didn't say to cut off a lose end, Dante, I just said because your father was related to it. Besides, that, and the offered price is pretty good, enough to pay a few of these ignored bills _and_ tweak Cherry up if you wanted to. Not to mention put that sign in the window you've been wanting to get."

Dante had to admit, he was fairly interested in the case anyway, no matter how he slacked off in seeming as if he was. So when Lady told him that, he finally decided to let a little of his interest show through. He'd been wanting to tweak Cherry, his car, up for a while now, turn her into a convertible, not to mention that, yeah, finally being able to get his sign and complete the things he'd been doing to his shop would drive in a lot more business, and he sighed, blowing some of his bangs out of his eyes without meaning to. "Horse ranch?" He asked her finally.

"Horse ranch," she nodded, smirking at him.

Dante was quiet, seemingly in thought. Lady wondered if she was going to have to do some more convincing, but he finally smirked and stood up straight and kicked his desk hard. The resulting thud was followed by Ebony and Ivory flying off of the desks surface and high up into the air while he turned around and grabbed Rebellion from the wall, placing the sword onto his back. As the two guns fell, he reached out and caught them, then spun them around on his fingers like a gunslinger and shoved them into his trademark red leather trench coat, followed by turning to Lady and saying, "Guess it's time to saddle up then, partner."

Grinning, Lady turned toward the door and she muttered at him, "Glad to hear ya say so. It shouldn't be too hard get up there, but," she looked his clothing over, "blending in may be a different story."

Walking toward the door, Dante replied with, "Who the hell needs to blend in? What is this, a hide –n- go seek operation?"

He walked out of the door. Following just behind him, Lady shook her head slowly. "Never is with you."

"Damn skippy."

"Just give me a call if you need me?" She pointed out, as if he might've forgotten that.

"Doubt I will, Lady," Dante grinned, then pulled his car door open, followed by yawning again. Once he did that, he shut the door without getting into his car. Then he began heading back to the door where she stood.

Lady smiled, asking as if she already knew, "Gonna go get a nap?"

Dante grumbled as he walked back to the door and past her. Going inside, he muttered, "I don't take naps. I'm gonna go crash for another ten hours, then I'll head up there."

Considering the circumstances, Lady knew they had time to wait, but ten hours? She looked back and called out, "If you're not up by three, I'm bringing Kalina Anne after you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grumbled out, walking up his stairs. Grinning behind him, Lady somehow knew this was going to be a pretty run of the mill day. She wasn't worried at all about the job ahead of him.


	2. Lucky Streak

_Chapter 1 - Lucky Streak_

It was only late September, and it'd been snowing. Dante guessed that was what happened whenever you traveled up north though. The sign above the gate read 'Black Wing Creek', and it was covered in the white color of the snow that had been falling, and while only a dusting, it was enough to cover the entire top of the wooden thing. It'd been a long while since he'd seen it. He only wondered if it would get bad while he was here or not.

His boots kicked up a little of the white stuff as he walked through the front gates.

A woman was leaning on a fence surrounding a rodeo with a sleeveless white and gray vest on and a cowboy hat gracing her head. Her cowboy boots were planted with one on the fence, one on the ground, and the heavy duty gloves she wore were across the fences top with her sleeved arms, as she wore a white undershirt beneath her vest. Her red tendrils picked up in the breeze, pulled back into a ponytail except for the front two sides, and she called out, "It's gonna throw you!"

She was watching one of her wranglers trying to break a wild horse, and it was bucking like crazy. "It's gonna throw–," she stopped in mid sentence, cringing as the man hit the dirt hard, "you." With a shake of her head, she finished. "Told ya so."

Following the event, she pushed herself up and smacked the arm of a man who was sitting on top of the fence near her, "Jack, you owe me ten bucks now, dude."

Jack smirked and went to hand her his money. She chuckled and then heard something and looked back, watching as she took the money from her friend without glancing at him. Jack turned as well when he heard the noise that was made. They'd both caught sight of a guy looking around the arena the horses were in, and she lifted a brow. Jack asked what she'd been thinking, "Who's _that_ City Slicker?"

Smirking, the woman told him, "Don't know, maybe another guy who thinks he can stand up to a bucking bronco. Keep them going, Jack. I'll be back."

"No problem, bosslady," Jack replied and he pushed himself down from the fence and into the rodeo to help the other wranglers.

Approaching the man whom she'd thought was a bit older from a distance because of his white hair, she could see that he was actually a lot younger, perhaps even around her age, and she looked his clothing over. Long red trench coat, leather even, black shirt beneath it, a pair of gloves that were missing the index and thumb finger coverings, a pair of long leather pants, also black, with red pockets from what she could see, and a pair of leather boots, the woman made a sigh that she didn't allow to be heard. Not only was he a city slicker, but he also appeared to be a punk. Time would tell though. Still, she did admit, she liked his belt, a large buckle of a silver skull. Now that was pretty sweet.

"Howdy, stranger," she said as she got closer to him to get her attention, pulling off her leather gloves. The man looked over at her and raised his brows, then he unabashedly looked her over. All things considered, she didn't feel too offended by it, after all, she'd just checked him out to an extent, and she held out her hand in greeting. "Can I help you with something?"

Dante looked back up at the woman's face, her emerald green eyes, and the hair he could see hanging from the hat she wore that was damned near the same color as his coat, though darker, a blood color, and he thought to himself that he'd have to thank Lady for sending him here later. She was worth the trip if only to be able to look at her for a minute or two. Reaching out and taking her hand, he replied, "Yeah, maybe. I was actually looking for a job. Would ya happen to know who I could ask about that?"

The woman pulled her hand away from his and lifted her hand as she replied, "Probably me. I'm Regan Davison, I run this little get up. And you are?"

Dante stared at her quietly for a second, then he pursed his lips slightly, "I'm Lucky."

Regan blinked her green eyes at him in a bit of confusion, "Pardon me? Lucky?" She wasn't sure she'd heard him right.

"Yep, I'm a lucky bastard. I was hoping I wouldn't have to come up with an excuse to talk to you more than one of those guys, but you can call me Dante if that works better for ya."

Dante was smirking at her arrogantly. Regan's face remained flat. She wasn't entirely sure what to think about a man who'd just throw out a line like that to someone he barely even knew, not that she hadn't heard similar pick up lines to that before. She had to admit though, that one probably took the cake. She couldn't recall any other more original one than that. Finally she just smiled and told him, "I think I'd prefer to call ya Slick, city slicker, and apparently I'd be right. So, Dante, you're looking for a job, huh?"

Dante continued that cocky smirk and he lifted his hands up in indifference, "Why the hell not? And if it's workin' for _you_, that's even better. After all, I don't know too many guys who answer to a good lookin' babe like yourself. It'd give me something to be happy about."

Regan scoffed, giving him a look that said she thought he was either stupid or full of shit, if not both. "Is that so? Tryin' to be lucky _and_ happy, are ya?"

"Oh yeah," Dante drew out, a smirk still plastered across his lips that was making it hard for Regan not to at least smirk in amusement at him. But she forced herself not to, after all, the guy seemed to be arrogant enough as it was, he didn't need any help in that department.

Regan folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head at him as if she were sizing him up, "Have you ever been on a ranch, before, city boy?"

"Nah, I'm wingin' this shit. I can learn as I go. As long as I get a decent paycheck."

"Well, the pay's enough to keep food on the table, but the work's enough to keep you from being able to eat it because of the broken back you're gonna get. I'm not interested in boys who're wet behind the ear, and you already know where the exit is, so why don't you just go find it again."

Regan had turned around to walk back to the fence after she finished her statement. "Damn, that was harsh," Dante muttered behind her. "Yet such a nice view to soften the blow," he added as he watched her ass while she left. Regan hadn't heard him either, he knew that for a fact, otherwise she might've tried to sic some of these wranglers on him to have him hog tied. Still, it didn't bother Dante any. He knew why he was there, and while he was a little perturbed over the fact that the guy Lady had contact him, Nathan Morrison, hadn't given him too much information when he'd arrived and had even hung up on him for the most part, he was also confident in the fact that he knew exactly what he was doing here.

He'd been wandering around for a while now, just checking shit out, and he hadn't really noticed one damned thing out of place, making him question this whole theory of Nathan Morrison's about the place being full of cultists. Even still, it was part of the job, so he'd checked it out anyway, and now he was just going to walk into the fucking place and act like he owned it. After all, what better way to draw out a demon or even a demon worshiper than by acting like you have more arrogance than they do.

Dante was all set when it came to that, as it wasn't really even an act on his part.

Regan sighed at the thought of a city slicker who naively believed he could learn this kind of thing just by watching as he went along, and she hoisted herself back up onto the fence and called out, "Hey Jack, did you get that shipment in to Ted today?"

Jack looked up and he nodded his head, giving her a high thumbs up, "It's in the kitchen," he called back to her, and she held her own hand up to show him that she'd heard him, then jumped back off of the fence, her brows raising when she heard a voice from behind her.

"Wouldn't be chewing tobacco would it? Cause I hate that shit, and you might not be able to keep me around if it is."

Two guys sitting on the fence looked back at Dante with narrowed brows, one of them spitting onto the ground near him, a wad of the substance he'd just spoken of. Dante squeezed one of his eyes shut. Disgusting habit, he thought to himself. Regan turned and looked at him, her face one of disbelief. "I thought I told you to beat it, Slick."

"On the contrary," Dante started, "you did say to leave, but you told me you weren't interested in boys who were wet behind the ear, which I'm _not_, so saying for me to beat it didn't really apply to me, now did it?"

Regan started shaking her head in disbelief. This guy wasn't serious, was he? "Oh my God, I don't believe this. Do you _really_ wanna be thrown out? Or am _I_ the lucky one?" Far be it for her to be a complete bitch to the guy, she thought to herself, but he was starting to really get under her skin.

Or so she thought. Dante hadn't even _really_ gotten started yet.

Dante smiled at her, "You _are_ lucky," he replied, "_I'm_ here now. Besides, you said you really need to tame that horse, and your men apparently keep getting their asses handed to them. Let me take a shot at it."

Regan, and the two men on the fence, all just stared at Dante as if he'd completely lost his mind. Neither of them could figure out what he was smoking, and seeing this look on their faces, Dante rolled his eyes, "What? You act like it's impossible."

"For you it would be, son," the older man sitting on the fence told him. "You could get killed just by moving around that horse in the wrong way. Ya better listen to the lady here, she knows what she's talking about."

Okay, Dante thought, the guys weren't threatening like he'd hoped they would. To be completely honest, he was thinking that if they were all some kind of cultists here, or anyone at all was, they would have become violent with him by now and pretty much told him they were going to kick his ass for bothering Regan so much. But these guys had almost seemed as if they just wanted to warn him, even in a friendly manner, no matter how much bullshit he might've just thrown at them. The other one even added in a more friendly fashion, "Hell, if the kid wants to have a ride on Fargo, I say let him. Always did wanna see a city slicker come up in here and get his ass busted."

With a soft sigh, Regan turned her head to the side, glancing off into the rodeo at the workers there. They were going to get a lot of money for having Fargo tamed, and Regan needed the money pretty damned badly, it was close to meaning the life of her ranch here. But that was the reason why she _wasn't_ just going to let this Dante guy waltz up to him and try to tame him. Dante could tell she still wasn't convinced, not that he was desperately trying to ride the horse, just that he was trying to piss off _anyone_ he could and see what they were really made of. As he watched her, she started speaking, "Ya know, Marcus, that's exactly the reason why I'm _not_ going to let him ride Fargo, if he falls off of him, and gets hurt, do you know the kind of legal shit storm he could put us through?"

Marcus shrugged, "Do whatcha do with all the new kids."

"He's _not_ a new kid, Marcus," she looked up at him with narrowed brows, though she was smiling. Apparently whatever he'd just suggested had amused her slightly.

Dante was curious now, "And what do you do with the new kids?"

Looking back over at him, her green eyes meeting his blue ones, she suddenly smirked, "We put 'em on Hellraiser."

Dante's brows narrowed. "What's Hellraiser."

"The bull," the other older guy smirked.

"A mechanical bull," Regan added, "he's taught many a person that they can't just walk up to a ranch and think they can sit on the back of a horse and make it behave. After all, you're right, no one's been able to stay on his back yet, Fargo's not a pushover, he's a really good animal. Just stubborn as hell, and no matter how far we've gotten, we've had to go farther, hence his name."

Fargo, Dante thought, and the name made him smirk. But he wanted to know something else at the moment. "As stubborn as you?" Dante asked. "Have you tried him yet?"

Regan shook her head, "Not yet, I don't typically train the horses, I don't have the time to. Kind of like now, I don't have time to show you the ropes."

Dante sighed, looking into the rodeo, then he came up with an idea and smiled, "If I can ride Hellraiser the first time without getting thrown off for, what is it, eight seconds, and prove that I'm not wet behind the ears, will you let me find a job?"

Regan's brows narrowed, but she was still slightly smiling, as if she couldn't get over the fact that the guy was definitely insistent in a 'I'm no fucking quitter' kind of way. The still unnamed man sitting on the fence said, "That sounds like a damned good idea to me. Let him try it out, Regan, what's it gonna hurt? Boy'll get thrown easily, you know that. Besides, he's pushy, I respect that."

Regan finally started grinning, then she looked at Dante and lifted her brows in question. Dante kept his stance. Sounded like fun to him anyway. When Regan noticed he wasn't going to back down, she just shook her head and said, "Bill, Marcus, get him dressed up."

"Yes ma'am," the two replied and ran off to do as she'd said.

Once they were gone, Regan walked over to Dante and she tilted her head to the side, "You're crazy, Slick, but I guess that's a good thing. Still, what the hell makes you think you can just," she shook her head, trying to figure out the words, but Dante seemed to know what she was going to say anyway.

"Because I'm that damned good," he replied, "like I said, we're both lucky. So, where's the bull at?"

Snorting, Regan threw her hands up and to the side, "Right this way, Mr. Dante."

Bill and Marcus had set the bull up near some of the stables where they kept a track, and had put the protective cushions around it incase Dante was thrown in the worst way. One of the guys was already riding the thing by the time Regan and Dante had gotten there, testing it out to make sure nothing was wrong with it because, as Regan explained, they hadn't used Hellraiser in a long time. But the bull seemed to be in proper working condition, and as the worker was thrown into the cushions, the people around had all cheered.

Regan opened the gates to the track and she let Dante in, saying to him, "You've got one shot. After that, I'm getting back to work and you can get back to your own day. Got it?"

"No problem, bosslady," Dante told her, using the term as if he already knew for a fact that he wasn't going to be thrown, and he walked right into the track and up to the bull while the guys all watched him.

The man standing beside it told Dante as he approached the machine, "Let me take your coat, we don't need something getting stuck in the gears."

"No problem," Dante replied, removing his jacket, the shirt he wore underneath sporting sleeves that were rolled up to his elbows with creases sewn into the sides and around the torso. He also wore straps around his shoulders where his guns Ebony and Ivory were holstered. Seeing the guns, the man grinned, then he nodded his head at Dante in approval. "Those are pretty damned nice," he told the white haired city slicker, "you any good with 'em?"

"Of fucking course," Dante smirked, "let's get this show on the road." He moved and climbed onto the bull without question. Once he was in place, he bobbed his head at the guy, "Just make sure nothing happens to my coat."

"No problem buddy," the guy replied, moving away from the bull and to the controls. Regan was standing there, leaning against the wall, and when her worker walked over with his coat, she told him, "If he manages to stay on it on the easy mode for eight seconds, I want you to up the levels all the way to the top. I'm not letting this guy get away with beginner mode and then thinking he's some kind of slick shit, Jack."

"Yes ma'am, I agree." Jack told her, then he called out to Dante as the guys were all yelling at him different things, some of them telling Dante to 'get 'ir done', and others asking him if he were ready for a ride, "You ready, Slick!?"

"Anytime, partner," Dante replied.

"Alright, here we go," Jack said, then he started the bull up.

Slowly the machine started bucking. Dante felt the waves moving up through him as the machine started going to work, and he took the handles, just waiting for things to really get started, which it didn't take long to do. Eight seconds passed on the easy mode, and Jack upped the levels.

Things started really getting interesting then. The bull bucked and threw it's back not at all dissimilar to a real bull, twisting and turning, and Dante let a loud holler, letting go of the handles with one hand. The bull continued to get more and more irritated as the levels were taken up again after another eight seconds, and by this time, most everyone was cheering for the new kid who seemed to be glued to the mechanical bulls back.

"Alright, last level," Jack said, putting the bull up on the highest setting.

"We'll see how long he manages," Regan told Jack and lifted her brow. Then they both watched Dante for the next eight seconds on the bull.

Dante was riding it like he'd been doing it for a very, very, very long time. He seemed to be having a damned good time as well, and everyone had become so intent on the scene that they didn't notice anything else. Even Jack didn't realize that more than eight seconds had passed on his stop watch, and he muttered, "Holy shit," while Dante's body was jerked back but still didn't go anywhere. Instead, Dante only allowed the momentum to throw the back of his body up while he held onto the handle with his hand, his feet landing on the seat of the machine, and he actually stood up. A loud yell was heard coming from him, the crowd of workers was going crazy, and when the bull bucked again, Dante let the new momentum throw him off of it, which was enough to propel him into the air where he flipped before he came down and landed, causing everyone to go nuts with their cheers.

Regan just stared with her jaw agape. Who _was_ this guy?

Dante grinned at them, an arrogant, cocky grin to be sure, as he walked toward them, and that's when Jack blinked and stopped the clock. He looked at it and went wide eyed. "Regan, that's a new record, he stayed on it for at least 18 seconds."

Regan blinked over the words and she suddenly grabbed the stop watch from Jack and looked at it herself. Because Jack had been so enthralled with the show, the watch had actually gone up to 25 seconds, but Regan knew just like Jack did that at least the last latter half had been Dante jumping from the bull and landing, then beginning to walk over to him. Jack just grinned and he yelled to the crowd, "We got a new record, it's 18 seconds!"

Dante looked at the stop watch, then he smirked at Regan as the people went wild, and asked her, "So, do you believe we're both lucky yet, or what?"

Regan stared at him blankly, unable to help it. Then she parted her lips, her eyes narrowing a bit, "And you've _never_ been to a ranch before?"

"Not once in my whole damned life, thanks," he told Jack his gratitude as the wrangler handed him his coat. He started putting it back on and looked at Regan, a white brow lifting.

Regan couldn't help herself. She continued to stare at him incredulously. "I'll be damned," She shook her head, looking to the side in thought over the whole thing. Then she chuckled, "I'll be goddamned." Finally looking at Dante, she added, "Well, I guess a deal's a deal. Consider yourself employed."

She held out her hand. Dante just smirked, then took her hand and shook it. All things considered, he had to admit that whole bull riding thing was fun. He needed to get one of those to put in his shop, he considered, and briefly wondered how long Lady would be able to stay on it. After all, the girl had skills. It'd be interesting to find out. Maybe if she ever moseyed on up here, he'd find out.

This was definitely turning out to be an interesting job so far.


	3. The Shootist

_Chapter 2 - The Shootist_

Regan was carrying a cup of tea to the kitchen table, one at which Dante was sitting, and she pulled out her chair before she sat down. "It must've been about five years ago that the owner of this place passed away," she told him in reply to the question he'd just asked.

After the scene at the track with the mechanical bull named Hellraiser, Regan had told Dante to meet her in the lodge later, in the kitchen, so she could fill out some paperwork if he really wanted to work there as a wrangler. Dante had declined at that point, until he'd been able to talk to her more personally, to let her know the job would only be temporary. After all, if he was going to be on a wild goose chase, which this case really did seem to be turning out to be, he would definitely need something to do while he was there. And besides, the job of a wrangler seemed interesting enough to keep him occupied when things were calm, cool, and quiet. Not to mention it got him on the inside of the ranch much more deeply where he needed to be in order to find things out.

Regan had needed to get some of her own work done after the entire scene herself, and once she was finished, she went to the kitchen, joined by Dante a short bit later, when he'd asked her exactly how old she was. Giving him the reply of 21, the same age as him, he told her she seemed to be a bit young to own her own ranch. So Regan had given him the reply about the former owner who'd passed away, and after she'd sat down, the warm mug of tea between her fingers, she went on, "He raised me for most of my life, his name was Eddie Horton, and when he passed away, he left this place to me in his will. Jack helped me run it until I was legally old enough to take over it. It's really my favorite thing to do too, so I'm glad I got it, though I'd rather have Eddie back than this ranch."

Dante could agree with her on that, though he wouldn't say so or let her know what he'd been thinking about. But he was curious, well, just a slight bit, and besides, if it let him know what the hell was going on around here, then it was worth asking. "You weren't related to him?"

Regan shook her head, "Nah, my parents died when I was five, they were also wranglers, Eddie's best friends, he was my legal guardian. They were out one day with a herd of mustangs and were trampled in an accident. After that, my older brother pretty much split, he was fifteen, a lot older than me. I never saw him since, and neither did Eddie, so it was just me and him."

Regan had taken to shifting through a few papers by the time she'd finished her statement, looking them over one by one until she found the one she needed, and she then sat them neatly before her. Tilting her head quietly, she asked Dante as she continued to stare at them, "So, do you mind a question?"

Dante shrugged, "Shoot, sweetheart."

Snorting at the endearment he'd used, she asked him without pause, "Why a wrangler? Don't tell me you were just driving through town, stopped here, and decided to waltz on in and want to become a wrangler. Something _had_ to make you have at least thought about it before."

"I'll be completely honest," Dante told her, "I have never thought about it before. I'm just looking for something temporary to get me through until my next job comes to me."

"Ah, a drifter I see, looking for a temporary trade," she mused with her green eyes still on the paper, then took her pen and marked the box next to the word 'temporary'. Looking up at him, she smirked, "kind of like a mercenary, huh?"

"Exactly," Dante told her, knowing she had no idea how close to the truth she really was, then he heard some shooting taking place off in the distance breaking through his thoughts. He ignored it for the moment however, after all, there was a bunch of cowboys around here, and Dante got the feeling that he knew they all had guns on them. So he just got back to the topic at hand. Looking at the files, he informed her, "And I don't exactly like doing paperwork."

Regan snorted, "Well, you asked for a job, now didn't you?"

"I asked for a job, not an interrogation."

The comment made Regan chuckle slightly, knowing exactly how he felt. That was the one thing she didn't appreciate about running this ranch, all the paperwork she had to do along with it, and for several months now she'd wanted to hire an office manager, but she just didn't have the money to do it. Tapping her nails against the desk as she looked the information over that she'd already gotten from him before they'd even sat down, she asked him, "How old are you?"

"Twenty one."

Alright, Regan thought, filling out the paper where his age was concerned. The shooting sounded again, and Dante narrowed his brows, curiously asking, "What the hell is that?"

"Target practice," Regan informed him, "some of the guys like to line bottles up and shoot at them. Favorite past time," she smirked, filling out the things on the paper that she already knew about him such as his race and that he was a male. "By the way, you've got some pretty nice guns yourself. Where'd you get 'em?"

"Made 'em," he told her, reaching into his coat and pulling them out. "Do you know how to shoot?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't call myself a cowgirl," Regan smiled, then looked back up, eyeing the guns that he'd set onto the table for her inspection. "Do you carry these everywhere?"

"Even when I'm drunk," Dante told her without shame.

Shaking her head, Regan guessed this guy was either damned paranoid, or he was really trigger happy. She hoped he wouldn't try to get drunk one night here and start shooting at people or something. But despite his egotistical arrogant streak he seemed to have so far, he also struck her as a pretty nice, somewhat level headed guy, so she didn't think she'd have to reprimand him at the moment. But the day he _did_ get out of line in that fashion, she _would_ put him through hell and high water. But she noticed the names etched onto the sides of the guns, and she asked him, "Ebony and Ivory?"

"What about it?"

"You named your guns?"

"I name all of my weapons."

"Isn't that kind of pointless?" She asked him curiously, watching him to see what his reaction would be.

"Why would it be pointless? You put a piece of yourself into 'em when you do that, makes 'em more special."

Dante wondered what the woman would think about that, whether or not she would scoff or take it to heart; it would show him what kind of person she was. Regan turned her face back down to the two guns sitting on the table, and then she smiled, nodding her head, "I like that. Ebony and Ivory. It's nice." Her words were genuine, and she smirked. But she knew she needed to get back to the paper work so she could get it over with, and she glanced back at them from the twin weapons after she'd had the thought and asked him, "Should I just list this place as your residency considering you're just moving through the area?"

"Sure thing, babe," Dante sat back and lounged on his arms behind his head against the wall. "And you can go ahead and list indefinite as my time being here on the job. By the way, why's that damned horse so important?"

"Fargo?" Regan asked, glancing back up at him. When she saw his nod, she set her pen down. "Well, he's an American Cream draft horse, they're pretty rare, and his owner is a wealthy horse racer who wants to have him trained properly."

"So he wants to turn him into a race horse then, huh?" Dante asked.

"No," Regan shook her head, "draft horses aren't really ridden too much, well, not raced anyway, they're too heavy for it, they just pull things, you know, plows, carriages and so on."

Dante got a little confused, "Then why the fuck do you wanna ride it?"

Smirking, Regan replied, "Well, he has to be trained before he can be used for mechanical work, and that's part of training him. I'll put it like this. The man is rich, and his daughter is the one who adores American Creams, she puts them into horse shows to win money, so if daddy can get her one, he will, and I need the money pretty damned badly. I don't care how much he's trying to spoil a little rich girl," she finished, then looked back at the papers again, filling the rest of them out.

Dante had grinned at how she'd put that. He was coming to learn more and more that Regan seemed to be a down to Earth and very outspoken girl. In a way, she kinda reminded him of Lady, but not as completely hard ass as his partner devil hunter could be. Still, he appreciated Regan's personality like that, and while he had the feeling his relationship with her while he was here would probably not wind up that much different from his partners, at least he knew better now, from Lady, how to deal with that kind of attitude and persona.

The firing in the distance of the guns sounded again followed by a few yells, distracting him from his thoughts on the pretty woman sitting before him, and Dante looked out of the window to see if he could tell what was going on. But sadly, he couldn't really see what they were doing, and he told Regan, "Do the guys around here like to bet a lot?"

"Oh yeah," she replied, "all the time. Why, thinking about going out to shoot some?"

"Read my mind," he told her, grabbing his guns. Putting them back into their holsters, he added, "Have fun with the paperwork, sweety, I'm gonna go check out the shooting range."

Regan groaned, rolling her eyes as Dante left her there. "What an ass," she muttered, completing the first side of the paper, putting down lies for the answers just to get it finished. She briefly considered putting down something insulting, but sighed when she remembered she had to handle _this_ professionally at least. She could just get him later for the constant endearments he'd been using with her, she considered, and filled out the rest of the sheet before standing up to go join him.

After all, she'd promised Jack she'd come out there too once she was done.

Jack was taking his own turn now, using a Colt Python to shoot at some cans lined up on the fence across the way from them, and Bill and Marcus were sitting, once again, on a fence behind them all, overlooking the entire scene. Three shots went off in a row, and all three cans went flying into the air, causing the guys to chatter and grin at each other over their words when Dante came wandering up. Having seen him, Bill smacked Marcus's arm to get his attention, and looking back, Marcus chuckled, "Well, well, if it ain't the new kid."

Dante moved to the fence and easily swung himself up onto it, looking up at the cloudless sunny sky for a moment, and then off into the distance where the cans were. "What's happenin'?," he asked the two, and glanced over in their direction.

"Just a round of shootin'," Bill told Dante, "Jack's the best shot we've got here besides Regan, and a couple of the boys from West Springs thought they could give him a run for his money."

Dante glanced over at Jack talking to some of the guys that were apparently from a different area all together, and as they spoke with each other and someone else in the distance had set the cans back up on the fence, one of the guys from West Springs moved in to start shooting. There were four cans now, and Dante watched the man taking all of the cans down, making them fly into the air with each shot he took.

"They're doing pretty good it looks like," Dante replied. "How's the bet work?"

"Well, they start off betting five bucks on one can. If both cans are hit by each man, they stick their money into the hat," Marcus told him, pointing out the white cowboy hat he held in his hand. "Then they add a can for each round, and add five more bucks for each can they hit after that, upping the ante. If someone misses, the opposite gets their money."

"We're at four now, what's the pool?"

"Fifty five dollars," the younger guy named Bill told Dante. "Jack's won two hundred before."

"Sounds like a pretty good get up," Dante replied, rolling his eyes at Marcus when he spit some more tobacco onto the ground.

Reaching into his jacket, Dante pulled out a stick of gum and he held it out to Marcus, who glanced at it, then back at him. Suddenly he grinned and started laughing, calling out to one of the boys, "Get this man a damned beer!"

Dante couldn't help his own grin over those words. This place was turning out to be pretty damned sweet. "Hell yeah, I'll take two," he added.

"Heads up," they heard a woman's voice in reply from behind them, and a beer can flew from a cooler where she'd been standing and at Dante who caught it without much warning.

As he looked back, he saw Regan come walking up, opening her own beer and drinking a good bit of it. Dante lifted a brow, couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a woman chug a beer like that before, one of those wine coolers, yeah, but most women he knew didn't really like beer too much. Once she was done, she set her beer on the top of the white wooden fence a bit away from him, and then climbed up onto it.

Dante watched her as she swung one leg over the side, the rail between her legs, and as she leaned forward to throw over her other leg, he couldn't help, being a man, noticing how her breasts billowed together for a moment at the collar of her v cut shirt. All in all he'd have to give this broad a ten. For one, he specifically liked that red color of her hair, and for another, she had those damned green eyes. He suddenly wished she would have been a much older chick, or one of those homely ones. The last thing he wanted right now was a hot female distracting him. Though, at least if he got frustrated he'd have some eye candy to look at.

Swinging her other leg over, she turned and jumped from the fence, then landed on the ground as if she'd done it a million times before. Once she'd grabbed her beer from the top of the fence again, she called out, "Marcus, this beer tastes like shit, what'd you get, something from bum fuck Egypt?"

Bill started laughing, "He got the light, he forgot his damned glasses again."

"Jesus Christ, glue them to your face, Mark," Regan laughed, "and drink up, we need more cans, I plan on getting in on this."

Dante was completely loving this conversation. In fact, he got the feeling he was going to fit in here as if he'd been raised around this kind of shit. Glancing at the beer can he held, he shrugged over it being light, and just opened it, taking a long drink afterwards. Once he was done, he glanced down at Regan as four gun shots went off in a row from Jacks Colt, and as Marcus and Bill started hooping and hollering, Dante asked her, "Care for a bet?"

Regan looked up, lifting a brow. Figures this joker would wanna bet her whenever he'd found out she was wanting to get in on some of the shooting. But as fate had it, she didn't have any money she was willing to bet at the moment, and so she only replied to him with a little smirk, "As much as I'd like to accept, I'm not going to do it for money."

"Fuck money, sweetheart, we can do it for sport."

Regan lifted a brow as she stared up at him. There he went with those damned endearments again, and this time, he had to use them in front of her workers, didn't he? With a sigh, putting her beer on top of the fence that was about as tall as she was, she grabbed the top of it. Dante watched her, hearing Bill's snicker, and he wondered what she was up to. She put her boot on the bottom of the fence, then climbed up, coming to the top where she got her face even with his, and she leaned in, saying, "Better yet, tell me how this sounds. If I win, you can't ever call me one of those stupid little nicknames again. They're irritating."

Dante lifted a brow at her, but he didn't lean back from her, and in fact, he just leaned in even closer, "What if _I_ win, cupcake?"

Regan pursed her lips, not letting his continued nicknames irritate her for the moment, thinking it over, all the while trying not to smile because of Bill and Marcus behind her making faces. Reaching up, she swept her hair over her shoulder, thinking of saying something along the lines of paying him twice as much as his job was worth, but she didn't have the money to do it. So instead, she asked, "Well, what would you like, Slick?" Her voice was suggestive if nothing else.

"Oh I don't think you wanna know," Dante replied, looking her over for a moment, "though I'd love to tell ya." His words were just as suggestive as her own.

Could he be anymore annoying, Regan wondered. Hooking her booted foot into the back of the fence, she crossed her now free arms over her chest as she used her foot to hang from and considered it, waited on him to give a response as well. When he remained quiet, she finally told him, "Fine, then I'll just say a handshake," with a grin on her lips, knowing that _wasn't_ what he wanted.

"What about a kiss," Dante asked. Hell, if he was going to get something, he may as well make it good.

Regan lifted a brow. Bill and Marcus both started telling her to go for it, and Regan eyed them, then Dante. "Why the hell do you want a kiss for?"

"Because you're a hot little bag of redheaded goodness that I think must taste pretty damned good."

He just _had_ to do that, didn't he? Use every name in the book he could think of in one line to make her as irritated as she could get. While they stared at one another, and though Regan never showed it on her face, Dante could still see her eyes turning from a mint green to an emerald, and he gave her the most arrogant smirk in the world that he could muster over it. That just made her even more mad, but she still didn't comment on it. Instead, she pushed herself back, and jumped down, then told him, "Alright, a peck."

"A full kiss, on the lips," Dante interjected, "otherwise no dice."

"Fine," Regan threw out faster than he'd thought she would. "Sounds like a deal to me." She held her hand out. Dante looked her over from where she stood on the ground, then he grinned and reached out, taking her hand. They shook on it, and both of them went back to watching the guys taking shots at the cans again when a man from West Springs missed. Some people booed, some cheered, and Regan, despite her current irritation at Dante, started clapping, "Go Jack! Woo!"

"Looks like it's our turn, sweet cheeks," Dante told her as he jumped down, "better get your lip gloss ready."

"Better get your names right," Regan replied, giving him a look when he glanced at her that said she was just as cocky as he was. Then she added saucily, "Excuse me," and she walked past him, calling out, "Jack, new kid's gonna go against me, get some more cans set up would ya."

Jack blinked, then he asked, "For money?"

"For a kiss," Dante told him incase Regan tried to skirt her way around what his prize was, and he added just so he could make sure he'd rubbed salt in the wounds, "Line 'em up nice and pretty for me so I can get to the good part."

Jack stared. For a kiss? Damn, dude hadn't even been there a day yet and already he was talking Regan into giving away kisses for a bet. Either she was really impressed by him, or her prize, if she won, was something she _really_ wanted. "Alright," Jack replied somewhat slowly and drawn out, unable to remember a time Regan would have ever agreed to something like this, moving off to get the cans lined up the way they should be, and Dante pulled out Ivory, swinging her around in his hand, twisting and turning her skillfully as Regan watched.

He was trying to intimidate her on purpose, she knew that much for a fact, as she watched his skillful movements with the gun, the way he tossed it into the air and then caught it without even looking at it, and she shook her head. Yeah, he could do all of that, but could he shoot was the real question. Stepping up, she reached out and caught his gun when he tossed it again, then she spun it around her own fingers, swinging it behind her back, and turned it so that the handle was facing him, holding it out to him. "You gonna shoot or play around, Slick?"

Dante couldn't help his grin, and taking his gun back, he told her "Lady's first, doll."

"Oh," Regan nodded, "then in that case," she held out her hand, "be my guest."

The guys on the fence started laughing, and Regan gave Dante a smug grin. Dante just looked up, nodding his head, and told her, "Hope you're a lesbian then, cause you're gonna be kissing this lady pretty soon." Without hesitating, he took a random shot at the can on the fence and it flew into the air without a second thought.

The guys cheered, and Regan turned, the she pulled her own gun from her belt, a silver Colt something like Jack's, but bigger than his. Dante nodded his own head in approval, looking across the gun, but he asked her, "Need a big one so you can hit stuff, right?"

"From what I see, yours isn't so small either, Slick, maybe you're compensating."

The comment had been given without hesitation. Dante wasn't even about to let her get away with that. "Oh I can easily prove that I'm not," he told her, taking his belt buckle, and she, without looking at him, aimed her gun in his direction. Dante grinned and stopped what he was doing, holding his hands up, "Don't get mad because I'm not afraid to prove it."

Regan rolled her eyes, snorting through her nose before she just turned her gun and shot at her own can, knocking it off of the fence without a problem. "Then don't insult my accuracy, it means more to me than your stupid male pride."

"You're pretty harsh," Dante sighed, shaking his head, then turning to the fence while he waited for the men to line up the cans again. "All the better," he smirked, thinking to himself that the bitchier they were, the harder they fell.

One by one after that, the cans went down. As had come to be expected by the wranglers hanging around in the area who'd seen Dante performing his nicely skilled feats that day, he was no shoddy marksman. Knowing this was going to be a good show as their bosslady wasn't a slouch by far herself, the beers were passed around and cracked open.

Lines of bottles went up in smoke fairly quickly. When the beers ran out, they were replaced, and the people continued cheering the two on. Personal money bets were made on them, and as each round passed, the people collected or lost their money. By the time the two shooters got to the ninth line of bottles, Dante had pulled out both of his guns and, aiming, he shot one after the other, each can going up quickly in succession, and when the last one flew into the air, he shot it out of the sky, then looked at Regan and shrugged with a smirk. Regan shrugged to, then she suddenly aimed up over his head and took a shot as a can was coming down toward him, saving him from getting hit just to show off her own skill. Then she tilted her head and raised her brows. Bill actually fell off of the fence laughing at them.

"Ya know," Jack said as they got the line of ten bottles set up for the two shooters, "I don't think I've ever seen Regan make it to ten, someone's always missed before then."

Marcus, whom Jack was talking to, started nodding his head, watching everything going on completely before he shoved the stick of gum Dante had given him into his mouth. Jack started laughing at him because he knew where Marcus had gotten the gum from, and then he downed some of his drink, watching Dante and Regan standing out in the yards, having their shooting contest. He thought it was fair to say he liked the new guy pretty damned good.

Regan was reloading her gun at that time, and she'd noticed that Dante never seemed to reload his. She could only wonder why and how he didn't, but she decided not to ask as the next line of ten cans was put up on the fence. Dante sighed, looking them all over, and he told Regan, "It's time to bring this to an end, sweety, pucker up."

Regan groaned inwardly at the mans words, but she'd grown to somehow believe that Dante had earned his arrogant streak so far. Still, it didn't merit him rubbing it in everyone's face, did it? Letting it go for now, she just watched the guy taking a few steps forward, and he told her, "Watch and learn, honey," ready to win his prize, and while a kiss with Regan wasn't something he was completely pining over, he still wanted to let everyone know exactly how good he was with his guns, no matter how much he'd proved it to them so far.

Regan watched Dante doing the same quick shooting up to the tenth can, and then he tilted his head and his gun slightly at the final one, taking a shot after a moment of hesitation. The can was hit near the very base of the bottom, and it flew up into the air at a high arc, over the yard they stood in. While it flew through the air, Dante aimed Ivory in his right hand and took two shots quickly. As the can spun again, he aimed Ebony in his left, and waited for only a moment, then took five more shots. The can went spinning through the air and Dante flipped his guns back into his harnesses as the can landed in front of them and onto its side.

Across the front of the can was a smiley face made from bullet holes.

Everyone started yelling different things out, creating a roar that made Dante turn and bow in front of everyone. Suddenly the crowd started shouting, "Kiss, kiss, kiss," over and over again in a chant. Regan went wide eyed and looked back at everyone in disbelief, though there was a smirk on her face that was slightly mortified. She glanced at Dante and he just grinned, turning his head to her, then leaned over and puckered up. Regan rolled her mint green eyes up and put her hand on his forehead, pushing his face back. Several people chuckled as she did, and she moved toward her own cans to take them all out. While she knew she couldn't shoot a smiley face into a can that was flying through the air, all that mattered was that she hit them all, and she planned on doing that without a problem.

Regan tuned everyone out, staring at her targets, even when her name was chanted after the kiss lines that had been thrown out by the people, taking a deep breath. She drew up her gun, pulling the trigger, hitting each can as she slammed the palm of her hand onto the hammer of the gun she held again and again, taking the next line out in succession. But perhaps she'd been a bit too nervous by the crowd having chanted about Dante getting a kiss, about the fact that she hadn't made it to ten cans in a very long time, about how damned good at everything the guy seemed to be so far. Once she was out of bullets, the line had come down, all except for the last can, which was wobbling now. Apparently she'd only nicked it.

The crowd got silent, and in her head, Regan nearly screamed at the thing to fall over, while Dante waited for it to stand in place. Everyone just watched, wondering which way the can would go, and as the long moments drew out, seeming much longer than they actually were, the can suddenly settled on its bottom side again, still perched upon the fence as if it hadn't been hit at all.

A jumbled mess of shouting came from the crowd when the can settled back down, and Regan closed her eyes tightly, clenching her teeth together. The disappointment she felt was shadowed out by the reminder of the kiss she got when everyone started yelling it at her and Dante again, and a wave of embarrassment washed over her. She could not believe that this guy she'd only met earlier in the day was about to get a kiss from her when all along _he'd_ been the one who was annoying her, and not vice versa.

With a sigh, she turned to everyone and shrugged, then looked at Dante. "Can I borrow one of your guns?"

He'd strolled over to her and when she asked him that question, he asked her, "What for? You've already lost."

"I know that, Sherlock, I just wanted to kill that can for making me lose."

Dante gave her a grin, then asked, "Planning on turning it on me afterwards?"

"Nah, too many witnesses," she smirked, hiding her embarrassment over the fact that she'd just lost and was about to have to give him a kiss.

"Well, if it's any consolation, I've only seen one other girl who can shoot as well as you do. So don't feel bad. I'm just–" he suddenly stopped when Regan smacked her fingers over his mouth. He lifted his brows.

"If you said that damned good one more time, I'm going to use your gun to shoot myself," she told him, grumbling slightly, and then pulled her hand away, "besides, do we _really_ have to kiss in front of all of these people?" She asked him, hoping they wouldn't.

"Don't you wanna please your fans?" He asked her, grinning arrogantly, yet somehow handsomely, at her.

"I don't have any fans," she replied, "but _you_ seem to draw a crowd wherever you go. I wonder why that is."

"Wonder later," he replied, taking her hand and pulling her around suddenly, dipping her back, causing her to gasp. "Just give me my rewards. I don't bite, hard anyway."

Regan wanted to cuss him out. She wanted to push him away, even if it meant her falling onto the ground. She stared at him somewhat evilly, but knew he was right and that a deal was a deal. In that moment, she completely hated herself.

"I'm waiting," he told her.

Regan wanted to tell him he'd be waiting a while, but deciding to get it over with, she took his arm and leaned up. She could have had a worse fate, she thought in that moment as she moved closer to him, and he could've been one of those ugly, fat guys that sweat even when they were just walking. One who chewed tobacco, as Regan herself thought that was a disgusting habit just like Dante did.

The crowd was shouting and waiting, someone yelling above the others, "Lay it on 'im, Regan!," which made everyone else laugh, and Regan smirked, then she whispered, "you're an asshole," before she leaned up and kissed him, meaning for it to be quick, but finding herself unable to pull away. Apparently Dante had sensed her incoming quickness about it, and he put his hand on the back of her head, holding her into place to keep her from going anywhere, and everyone started cheering. Why did Regan suddenly feel like she'd been betrayed, she wondered briefly. But soon enough, even though the kiss lacked any kind of complete stimuli such as tongue or whatever else you could throw in there, she forgot about everything going on around her.

When the kiss finally did end, she felt a slight bit lightheaded, and gasped when Dante pulled her back up to stand straight on her own, reaching up and grabbing her hat before she could lose it. She just smirked a bit, and then shook her head and yelled out at the cheering crowd, "Are you happy now?"

While they continued their yells, Dante said, "I know I am, you've got a damned soft pair of lips. Wanna go for round two?"

"Ugh," Regan groaned out, walking away from Dante before he frustrated her anymore than he already had, and as she walked off, she heard him calling out to her, "Thanks for the fun, sweetheart, I look forward to next time."

Regan signaled Jack, and called out, "Give me your gun."

Jack threw his gun to her without question, guessing she'd wanted to refill it for him since she actually had ammo on her and he'd lost about five shots from the contest he'd had, and he was surprised when she turned it on Dante, pulling the hammer back without question, and she caused Dante to duck when she'd pulled the trigger. Suddenly, the can behind him which was much further away now due to where she'd walked too after she'd left Dante standing there went up into the air, and looking, back, Dante cussed, "Shit," before turning his head at her again. "What the hell?" He asked her.

"Since I lost, I'm just gonna have to find another way to train you not to call me those names, aren't I?" She asked, smirking at him before she tossed Jack's gun back at him, and then she started walking away from the yards, grabbing the last beer from the cooler and opening it to take a long drink of it as she walked toward the ranch.

Dante watched her, and he scoffed slightly, watching the woman who was moving toward the establishment now. Train him? My ass, he thought to himself. Then he caught himself looking at _her_ ass again, and he rolled his eyes. He really needed to find a girlfriend, he thought to himself, one he didn't meet on a shitty, wild goose chase mission. And speaking of wild goose chases, it was getting close to sundown, and Dante had yet to see hide nor hair of any kind of demon or demon worshiper for that matter, well, that he could tell anyway.

This was getting ridiculous.

One thing was for sure though, wild goose chase or not, Regan seemed to be one hell of a woman for a simple human. She might not've been a fighter or something along those lines, but that's what made her so impressive, the fact that she hadn't spent her life learning how to slay demons like someone like Lady had, and yet she'd still managed to pick up on a few things, such as shooting, and manage to kick a lot of ass at it. Then she had the guts to tell him she'd find a way to train him not to do something. Smirking, Dante thought to himself that he'd have a hell of a lot of fun seeing what she'd come up with in the future.


	4. The Love of a Child

_Chapter 3 - The Love of a Child_

Eyes traveled over the pages of the tome in the candle lit room. The book was old, worn, and perhaps even decayed in a few places. But the words on the pages were as clear as ever. As the eyes traveled across the text, they stopped on a subject entitled _The Gateway_, in which the following content read via an unknown language;

_A pure human soul may be used to channel energy. But the energy could be enough to extinguish the life of the human. In cases where The Gateway is concerned, this death will not be fitting, as the Gateway must be alive in order to channel the energy sent forth. The Gateway is, in every case, a female, as the female body is that which gives life, and life is in itself energy._

_Upon instances of demonic powers ready to be set forth, The Gateway should be chosen carefully. The more pure the female, the stronger her connection to her demonic master, and the stronger her disconnection with the energy being channeled through her shall be. This will give the Master more control over his newly acquired slave, especially in cases where possession is concerned._

A sigh was made. Words were mumbled, "It reads like stereo instructions," before the page was turned, where more information continued;

_In order to allow the female to live, it is imperative that her blood be imbued with that of the demonic master. Once her blood has been strengthened to allow her to live, she will continue to channel energy until her life is ended._

The book was closed. The hands that held it turned it onto its side before placing it upon a desk. The person who'd been reading the nameless tome moved away from the book and the candle was blown out. Things were becoming much more interesting now it seemed.

--

"So, let me get this straight if I may young sir, you're telling me that first, you decide to drag the son of Sparda into this, and _then_ you decide to simply, how do you humans say, split?" The eloquently dramatic voice spoke. "Surely you jest!"

The only light that was offered was given by the three large hooded figures who held torches in their gloved hands. The trees standing in the background of the woods shrouded out any watching eyes there may have been from the distance of the countryside house. The person who'd been speaking, a rather tall, though not as tall as his hooded companions, and slender individual whom wore a long black robe with a collar that pointed out from his face sporting silver designs on the edgings, paced back and forth in front of the three figures behind him, across the front walkway again and again. His skin was pale, very pale, and his hair was long and black. Upon his shoulder sat a raven, and on his back was harness a long sword, almost resembling a Japanese Katana, but not quite as the hilt was designed differently with two bars jutting out of each side, an onyx placed in the tip of each.

His eyes were also obsidian in color, and as he'd spoke, he stopped for a moment and narrowed a brow, glancing up at one of his hooded companions. The man who he was actually speaking to, standing on the front porch of his home, watched as the pale, pacing individual stopped in front of the three hooded figures and asked him, "Is it just me, or do you feel as if you're standing in front of a Klu Klux Klan convention? Oh that's right, they wear white." He turned to the three fully, "Off with you, ye foul tempered, oddly smelling," he waved his hands for the words, "things! If I truly needed you, I would've told my daddy, so go on!"

The three turned and began moving away, offering some relief to the man standing on the front porch of his home. He wasn't entirely sure how they would react to his news, and without the three hooded figures, he felt much safer, well, he would have if their leader wasn't still there. Reaching up, he pushed his fingers through his blood red hair and parted his lips, "Arias, keep your voice down."

Arias lifted a brow, then he turned around slowly to face the man who was standing at a higher level than he. "Ah, yes, the girl." He began stepping toward the steps of the man's porch, each concealed foot he lifted up feathered by a black smoke that seemed to waft off of his robe itself, and he held his hand up toward the red haired man. "The reason you've decided to label yourself treasonous, is she not? After all," the demon named Arias added as his foot reached the top step, the man before backing away slightly, "the love a father professes for his daughter runs deep, and love causes a person to become fickle, something my mother taught me, perhaps one of the only things I can attribute to having pride over receiving from the whore." He spoke the words blandly as if he didn't have a care in the world for his mother nor did he hate her. He even emphasized his line with a melodramatic sigh.

Arias stood up straight once he'd reached the top, his sword glinting in the moonlight as it hung off of his back, his face a slight bit stony in expression. The man shook his head, "I'm not betraying you, I'm simply saying that I can't go through with this."

The stony expression on Arias's face melted into a more annoyed one as his obsidian eyes rolled up, and he turned slightly, stating, "Nathan," then he began to step, "Nathan," he added again, "Nathan, Nathan, Nathan." His voice was chiding as if he were a father, and rounding Nathan, he placed his hand across the mans shoulders, coming to his side, his other hand on his heart. "You've wounded me, don't take me for one of those," he waved his hand out at the front yard and thought for the word, "KKK...things!"

Nathan looked out at the yard with his green eyes and then he glanced down, having always hated Arias's penchant for dramatics and acting, as it tended to throw him off in what he wanted to say. Arias was, by nature, a very manipulative demon, and Nathan knew it for a fact. So he began, "I'm not, Arias, you understand me better than they do. I can't just sacrifice my daughter, she's all I have left."

"Oh God!," Arias drew back both remorsefully and irritated, walking away from the human before turning around to face him completely. "She's all you have left? What the hell are you babbling about, my depressed, abreactive friend."

"Abreactive?" Nathan asked, confused over the word.

"Yes, you're apparently releasing emotional tension from drawing on some repressed trauma that happened in your own childhood, more than likely the death of your parents, and now you feel that losing your wee little one will cause you to relive that." Arias shrugged, "Quite frankly, I remain unmoved." Even his raven was as still as a statue.

"I'm not trying to move you," Nathan said much more strongly than he'd previously been speaking, "I'm only trying to let you know I'm not going to go along with this anymore."

Arias scratched his cheek, his brow narrowed slightly, trying to figure out what the man was telling him. The raven squawked. "So you're saying sir, that you'd rather give up, hmm, an immense amount of power, a chance at immortality itself, all for the simple love of a girl who'll eventually die anyway. That makes," he drew out, then said more pointedly, seriously, "no sense."

Nathan groaned, rolling his eyes, and he turned away from Arias, looking down at the top of the porch, "People weren't meant to live forever, Arias. No one was, not even you demons if what I've learned is any indication. Eventually you die too."

Arias smacked his lips with a very dry expression on his face, brows in a flat, straight line, as he told Nathan, "Yeah well, dude, I'm not exactly gonna die any time soon. Well, not that I'm Mrs. Cleo, but," Arias's tone changed again, and he moved toward Nathan, "all I need to do now is ensure that you deliver the girl on the date we need her. We kinda can't sacrifice her if we don't have her to sacrifice."

"No!," Nathan turned and yelled suddenly at Arias. "I'm _not_ sacrificing my daughter for you!"

"Keep it down!" Arias returned, "She's asleep! I'd hate to have to sing her a lullaby!" Suddenly, with the word lullaby, Nathan grunted, the sound of a dagger being pulled from its sheath only a moment before, and Nathan could feel the stabbing pain in his torso. His eyes fell to Arias's cold face, and Arias tilted his head, "Now, young sir, tell me not thine treachery is true, else I'll dig a dagger into you, as deeply as the river flows, as swiftly as the wind blows." His voice was quiet and soft, and as cold as the current weather, the whispers he made to Nathan drawn out slowly to emphasize his point. Arias may have just stabbed the man, but he hadn't hit any vital organs, nor stabbed him deeply enough to have caused any permanent damage.

Nathan stared into his eyes, grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away, the dagger from his torso, and Nathan promptly covered his new wound with his hand, the blood seeping down from the new cut in his shirt, against his fingers.

Stumbling back a bit, Nathan growled out, "You bastard. Leave us now!"

Arias's face was still deadly serious, but that facade died as he suddenly smiled and turned his dagger back into the sheath hidden in his robes. "My poor fool. You do realize that if you don't cooperate with my father, he'll become innately mad, and believe me, he has a severally sore temper. You'd do _much_ better to simply give him what he wants. After all, why die when you can live? What's so hard to understand about that?"

By the time Arias had finished asking his question, he'd headed toward Nathan and placed his fingers beneath the mans chin, lifting it up, looking him over. "Before I depart my presence from you, and you completely decide to depart your life, allow me to say these few words to you. First, Democrities, my father, will rise again, one way or another, whether by your help or without. Second, you have until the morning light to decide your fate. If you become the fickle human most of them are known to be, then I can promise you that you'll die a slow death, painfully, in fact, you'll be wishing for death before it's over. That's the only accord we need to have."

Arias pulled his fingers away from Nathan's chin, and moved to the steps again, his raven perching on his shoulder flying from it and landing on the ramp of the steps, sitting there staring at Nathan, who eyed first the bird, and then the retreating demon as he began to speak, his robes still making that smokey mist like shimmer at the bottom as he stepped, "To her father white, came the maiden bright; But his loving look, like the holy book, all her tender limbs with terror shook." Arias waved his hand, "Expect not so different a look from your daughter, no matter _what_ fate you decide for yourself, my treacherous leach."

Arias seemed to disappear into a waft of smoke slowly once he said that, and Nathan sighed after cringing over his new wound, his green eyes glancing back down at the raven on his front porch steps ramp. Angrily, he suddenly waved his hand at the bird to slap it and shooed it away, "Get out of here!" The raven squawked and took off into the air, and Nathan watched it, then groaned with the pain his actions had caused.

But he continued to stand there for a moment longer. Arias hadn't even mentioned the son of Sparda again, hadn't even bothered to try and talk Nathan back into being on his side, not with the level of manipulation Nathan knew for a fact that Arias had possessed, had seen him do so before. Which in the end told Nathan one thing; Arias really didn't care completely for his fathers return.

Demons, Nathan thought with a scoff. Always out for their own power no matter what or who they hurt in the process. But, at least he knew his choice and his path now.

He had to get his daughter out of here. Before the ritual came. Before they came. Before they killed her.

--

The woods seemed to glow blue in the moonlight. As the dark demon named Arias walked their paths, he stopped near a tree and allowed his raven to land on his shoulder. Looking to the side where his raven sat, he spoke, "So, he chooses death, does he, Puck?" After speaking, Puck made another squawk, and Arias sighed in return, as if the bird had just spoken to him. He'd left Puck to watch over Nathan for him, and now that he knew Nathan was trying to leave in the middle of the night, he was slightly disappointed. But only slightly. Otherwise he would have handled it himself. "Then follow him, make sure you know exactly where he's going. After all, I have business to attend this fine eve."

The raven took to flight once again, and Arias, who'd spoken in a frustrated fashion, rolled his eyes with a deep, heavy sigh. Then he drug his hand up before his face and inspected his nails idly, as if he were bored. "Never understood why women want to dress these things up," he muttered pointlessly, finally glancing away and up at the sky, where he saw the full moon beyond the branches. "But duty beckons. Time to call daddy."

He turned away from the tree and stepped forward once. Holding out his hands, they began to glow blue, and the sclera of his eyes turned completely black. A whirring sound began, and from the light that had formed on his hands shot powerful surge of energy into the ground, which exploded upward into a constantly glowing pool of energy. The power from his fingertips faded, and his eyes returned to normal. Arias folded his arms together over his chest, and he pursed his lips. Staring into the pool before him now, he spoke. "You failed to mention to me that you wanted Nathan to summon Dante Sparda into all of this."

From the pool came a deep and rough demonic voice, slowly speaking, "My business is my own. Your only task is to hold things together."

As the voice spoke, Arias had formed a cigarette between his fingers which he lit, then took a drag of and rolled his eyes over the words that were spoken. "So, then the _great_ Democrities wants to seek vengeance on the son of the demon who put his own father under, hmm? Fitting, somehow, though I can't image why you'd want to complicate things. Even though he's a bit young, Dante Sparda is no fool, nor is he weak. He _could_ bring all of this crashing down."

"That is _my_ concern, Arias, you'd do well to keep your forked tongue behind your teeth." Arias stuck his tongue out at his father immaturely when that was said and though it was usually a normal tongue, now it actually was forked, and he grumbled slightly. The voice went on without notice seemingly, "Nathan is having trouble adhering to his duties?"

"One might say that," Arias grumbled out, "but I _am_ adhering to mine, and he'll be watched carefully, though it'd be a _tremendous_ help if my dad would tell me _all_ of his plans." Apparently he was agitated, and with good reason.

"I should hope so, my son, for your own sakes."

"Well, if I can please my one and only father," Arias bowed before the pool, then lifted his cigarette to his lips and took a drag of it, adding in a french accent, "zen my life iz complete! However, I find zese zings you've sent for me to, how do you say, command to be a bit lacking in zee style!" Arias meant the robed figures that Democrities had sent with Arias to help do his bidding.

"Do not continue to patronize me, Arias. My powers are growing, and you'll only share in them if you complete your duties satisfactorily." While the voice spoke, Arias sighed and then he flicked the cigarette into the shimmering pool, hoping it hit his father right in the eye. While it wasn't a common practice of Arias to be so immature, he also loved to drive his father insane, and that seemed to do the trick.

The pool began to close without another word, and Arias just waited for it. He knew what was coming, and heard the warping vortexes created by the demons that were being summoned around him. His black hair wafted in the breeze about his face as he slowly slid his fingers around the hilt of his sword. Democrities had become angry again, and Arias knew he was going to attempt to teach his son a lesson.

One by one, the lanky demons with the cyclops eyes of blood red and pale blue skin began to lumber toward him grotesquely, looking as if they were death themselves. These were the most powerful lesser demons Democrities currently had at his disposal, manifested from the souls of those who'd sold themselves to Democrities for the price of immortality, as Nathan would have become if he hadn't apparently betrayed the demon, and they were called Quietuses with good reason.

The nude, androgynous beings lumbered toward Arias slowly, their movements creepy and somber, their heads tilted to one side as if they didn't watch where they were going, only wondered toward whatever life might be around them, whatever their target was, and their arms hung limply at their sides. Five of them were surrounding him now, and as the one behind him got close enough, tentacles sprouted from its head as its mouth opened and ejected a long black tongue from decayed, fanged teeth with a loud shriek. It's arms reached out, stretching, moving at Arias with an alarming pace behind it.

Arias drew his blade and swung it behind his back, cutting its arms off, causing the Quietus to reel away from him, its arms growing back into place while the tentacles on its head thrashed violently. The other three all reached for Arias in succession, and he turned to the side as two arms moved past him, one in front of him, the other behind him. His movements were quick, and he sliced through those arms as well with the black blade of his weapon, then grunted when another arm wrapped around his waste like rubber. From there, the tongue moved about his throat, and Arias forced his mouth shut tightly, grunting loudly with the force he had to exert to turn his body before the tongue could cause him any troubles.

Already, the tip of the tongue had been trying to slice his lips open to shove its way down into his mouth and body to pierce his demonic heart, and while that wouldn't kill Arias, no, it would still leave him out of the picture for a long while. So Arias turned as hard as he could and the force he created swung the beast around from the ground and into another, ramming them both into a tree so hard that the bark flew away from it in several different directions.

Arias tossed his blade into his left hand as they flew and cut the limbs from around him, causing the appendages to fly free of him so that the Quietuses he'd thrown would no longer be holding onto him. Then he turned the blade and jabbed it backwards, behind himself, into the torso of a Quietus behind him, causing the demonic creature to scream chillingly in agony. Black veins began spreading across the creatures skin from his poisoned blade, and as Arias pulled it out, he summoned a powerful force to knock the now dying thing away from him without even looking at it.

Realizing he had a moment of peace now, the other creatures still alive, yet lumbering toward him too slowly to get to him in time to stop him, Arias began to shift energy in toward himself, causing the forest about him to appear to shimmer slowly as if a glass was surrounding him, and then he released it outwards, which made him disperse into a million speckles of blackness everywhere, disappearing from sight.

One might ask why Arias would continue to serve a father who would attack him, he thought to himself as he moved through the woods in a different area altogether. They'd have that right to wonder. Arias hated his father, and Democrities hated him. But the thing that bound their plans together was the trust they held in the others abilities. Arias would become much more powerful once his daddy's power was unleashed, and Democrities would gain an army in the underworld of mass proportions, one that had previously only been rivaled by that of Sparda, the dark knight, the traitor. All it took was the blood of a young, innocent girl, a priestess by chance or not.

That power would then be released, and not only would Democrities be able to defeat his rivals, but he'd also be able to enslave the human race, and eventually, universal domination!

Arias scoffed at the thought. He came to a stop and looked out over the plains before him, at a ranch in the distance. Arias didn't have _that_ much faith in his fathers abilities, universal domination? Please. But it was a chance for power, and what kind of demon would he be to turn down that chance? But, he thought as he looked off into the distance, there was one piece to this puzzle that hadn't yet been attained, though attempts were underway to try.

The woman, Regan Davison.

What a lovely fawn, Arias thought to himself. Such pretty skin, so fair, with hair the very color of blood, a trait that, Arias thought to himself, his grandfather would surely find enchanting in a woman.

The three hooded figures came in behind Arias in that moment, and he spoke, "You know, I never understood my families obsession with blood. All of them, it's so," he shuddered, "_vampiristic_." Then Arias slowly turned around, sighing as he looked up at the three figures behind him, "Alas, tis not my place to know or care. All I need of you now is to make sure the girl arrives safely in our hands. I'll watch our dear Regan, the last and final piece to this puzzle. If I'm not mistaken, the son of Sparda is quite the womanizer. Perhaps I can use this quirk of his to my advantage if Daddy so wants his revenge on the half devil, though I don't know why. Just let bygones be bygones, for demons sakes. Still, I have to do it _satisfactorily_," he mocked his fathers words, "so make sure that little girl is with us by tomorrow morning. Now go from my sight, I have no more to give. And tell the others."

The three turned to move away, and Arias looked back at the ranch ahead of him, sighing deeply over his task. Why did he feel like some kind of secretary, he wondered to himself briefly, but then he just disappeared into a puff of black smoke and got to work.


	5. The Great Race

_Chapter 4 - The Great Race_

Dante was snoring in the early morning light. Drawing in his breath through his nose, he muttered something about side saddle not being only an effect of riding a _horse_ for too long, and he scratched his nose suddenly, then went still again. The clock signaled that it was six o'clock in the morning. Faint rays of sunlight were starting to filter in through the window and across the man's face when the door to his bedroom opened up.

"Now that's what I call a slacker," the man who'd just walked into the room spoke. Jack pushed his fingers through his hatless hair as he shook his head, brushing his somewhat dark, wavy locks back and he then looked at his watch. 6:02. Moving toward the edge of the bed, Jack reached down and swatted Dante's arm, "Hey new fish, wake up."

"Fuck you," Dante muttered and turned over.

The comment made Jack grin, seeing this kid was definitely not one to get up in the morning. Kinda sad he chose to be a wrangler as they typically led pretty early and long day lives. Maybe that was the only thing that would actually keep this kid from being good at his job, Jack mused to himself. So he tried again. "Kid, get your scrawny ass up before I introduce you to Bubba!"

"Tell Bubba I'll cut his dick off and put up on my wall as a trophy," came the groggy, yet only just now awake voice. Groaning, Dante slowly turned his head and glanced back, "What the hell time is it?"

"Five after six, Slick, you're sleepin' in." Jack informed him of that with a humorous grin on his face. He could only wonder what the city slicker would say to that.

"The fuck," Dante muttered out as he reached up and rubbed his eyes, "Six is sleeping in? I'd fuckin' hate to see what you thought about three o'clock in the afternoon."

Chuckling, Jack asked him, "Only just get to bed?"

"About three hours ago."

Jack cringed over that news, and he stood up straight, "Well, I'll go easy on ya, considering I don't wanna be shot with that pair you carry. Just come on down when ya do get up, but if it's three o'clock, I can't say Regan won't be throwing a shit fit."

Dante grumbled something incoherently and then he rolled over, going back to sleep without much problem at all. Shrugging, Jack left the room, and Dante was snoring again not five minutes later.

It was one o'clock when Dante did actually wake up completely, and he pushed himself up, shirtless and wearing his red and gold amulet around his neck as he scratched his head and stood, moving to the window. Looking outside, seeing the rodeo off in the distance and the horse riding taking place, he wondered, considering his wake up call this morning, how pissed Regan was gonna be when he only just now went downstairs to get to work.

Without another question, he moved to grab his clothes and walked to the door.

Regan was leaning over the fence again, thinking to herself quietly. The day had drawn on slowly, and her agitation at her newest employee had only increased. She knew the wranglers had noticed she'd been a bit off all day long, as she'd been a little angry, and probably guessed it had to do with Dante. They all decided not to bother her about it either. After all, if she wasn't yelling at them, they were more than content.

Regan decided she was going to let the city slicker sleep in for today however. He was new to this kind of thing, so she wouldn't say much of anything to him. But she _would_ give him the most menial jobs to handle, such as cleaning up the horses stables. That would more than likely piss him and that big ego of his off. She grinned at the thought, and somehow couldn't wait to bait him with it again. It should be completely entertaining.

The thought made her grumble though. Why she'd be interested in a baiting game with _anyone_ like that was beyond her. Truth be told, she didn't even _wanna_ know why she was looking forward to something like that. True, the man's skills had impressed her, but for crying out loud, he was as obnoxious and as loud mouthed and rude as they came. So when it came to having _any_ kind of interest in the man, she knew she must've been stone fuck nuts quite literally.

Sadly, Regan had gotten called into her office for most of the rest of the day though, pretty much leaving Dante to whatever he was going to be doing with Jack for the evening, and getting caught up with paper work, she didn't even manage to see _anyone_ until about 5:30. If her mood wasn't sour before, it was definitely a bit sour now. When she finally did get outside, she was in a much fouler mood, if only because she didn't like doing so much office and paperwork at once, and she headed toward the stables.

Office work, she scoffed inwardly. Regan grumbled with that last thought and called out to the guys as she moved toward where the horses were kept, "It's gettin' around six boys, time to start finishing up for the evening and get ready for supper."

She needed to ride. She had a black stallion named Lucas, which she'd derived from Lucifer because she'd thought the horse was about as temperamental as the devil when he wanted to be, and she pulled him out of the stall and saddled him up. She needed to get her mind off of things for a while and just ride.

Looking into the rodeo, she called out to Jack, "I'm gonna take Lucas out for a few up the trail by Black Wing. I'll be back shortly. Where's Dante anyway?"

"Yes ma'am," Jack called back, "we'll take care of the things here, and I don't know, I haven't seen him for about an hour now."

Figures, Regan thought to herself, but neglected to comment on it. "Thanks Jack," she called back to him and then mounted her horse. Starting off at a slow trot at first, she waited to get to the trail outside of the ranch before she started riding harder.

The fields beyond the ranch were all very beautiful this time of year, late fall, when the trees were turning, and she wanted to get a good feel for it before all the leaves fell off of their branches and the snows came completely, saying they didn't come early due to the dustings they'd already gotten. Finally, once she'd reached an incline, she started riding down it just a little bit faster, then took off into a full gallop once she'd hit the bottom. It felt wonderful to have the breeze in her hair like that, and she tightened her grip on the reigns and smiled finally, feeling much better already. The freedom riding Lucas offered her was enough to make her forget about anything even remotely related to office work.

Or new guys in leather trench coats who called her shameless names and got away with it in shooting contests.

The incline led through the field and into the trees, a path taken by tourists to the area on pack rides all of the time. The path would eventually lead by the creek, which turned off into a river, and Regan wanted to ride along it because she enjoyed the view, so she turned off of the path at the right point, knowing her way like the back of her hand, and started following the creek down until the river started.

Lucas turned a few corners, and her destination came up into the distance. Once it had, Regan rode with him along the lines of trees and the shore of the river, and smiled at the dying light flooding through the oranges and yellows of the branches overhead. She was very glad to be doing something so relaxing, away from everyone and everything where things were simpler, made more sense to her. _A lot_ more sense.

Having slowed down to a trot, Regan felt Lucas tensing, and she reached out and patted his white mane of hair to try and calm him down. "What's wrong, buddy?" She asked. Lucas shook his head slowly as she stroked his fur, and then she sat back, figuring he may have just been a bit tired. After all, she _had_ just ridden him pretty hard. So she pulled on the reigns and brought him to a stop by a place in the stream where the water was much gentler and allowed him to get a few drinks if he wanted it.

While she waited, her thoughts went back to Dante again. She thought about his words, about how he'd never been to a ranch before, yet managed to set a new record on the mechanical bull. Not to mention his skills with a gun were insanely good. She knew that, no matter how much of an arrogant jackass he'd initially come off as, she was still curious about him and wanted to know how and where he'd learned to shoot so well, how he'd learned to do a lot of the things he seemed to be able to so well. Something just didn't make sense about it.

But if she had to be completely honest with herself, she would admit that he was a good looking guy. Twenty one and white hair? Somehow the thought made her smirk. She wasn't sure why, but it did, and she could only wonder if he ever got any flak about it from anyone. If she had to guess though, she'd guess he did, and if she had to guess a second time, somehow, she'd also guess that Dante didn't take that kind of crap from anyone.

"God, what are you thinking about," she muttered to herself quietly. Then she shook her head and sighed softly. No, she wouldn't let herself dwell on anything but her curiosity of where and how and why he'd learned to shoot so well. Then she'd forget all about him.

She supposed she'd find out later though, or maybe not at all. She'd taken him for flaky, and she wondered if he'd even still be at the ranch when she got back. If he wasn't, then c'est la vi. She could forget all about him and get on with her life. For now, she just wanted to enjoy her time out to herself alone. With a sigh, she just shrugged her head and reached over to scratch her horses head when he lifted it back up from drinking. "Feeling better?" She asked as she started turning him away from the stream.

Moving away from it, Regan felt Lucas tensing again and he stopped, becoming a bit antsy. She pulled in the reigns trying to settle him, and asked, "What is it? Why are you being so agitated? You're acting like me about an hour ago." She looked around to see if maybe there was something threatening nearby such as a wolf or other such animal, but she saw nothing.

It was then that a rabbit suddenly ran by the path before them, and the quickness of it caused Lucas to rear up ever so slightly. Regan chuckled softly, "What's got you spooked, Lucas? A little old bunny? Well, I guess if you didn't see it," she smirked and rubbed his mane again.

Lucas seemed a bit tense still though, as if expecting something she still didn't know about, and Regan glanced up and around, narrowing her brows. She was starting to feel a little wary as well, watching the soft, cool breeze blowing through the trees almost eerily for a moment. She couldn't place it, but somehow she just felt as if she were in a bad place at a bad time.

"Maybe we should just go back, huh?" She smiled at the back of the horses head and told him, "Right around this corner."

That's when a scream sounded from up ahead. Looking up with a slight gasp, Regan could tell the scream had come from a little girl, and she heard the words yelled from a man that followed it, "Run, Evelyn, get out of here! No! Ahhh!" Then more screaming and a few splashes of water in the river.

Regan reached to her side when she realized she didn't have her gun on her. "Damn it," she cussed, staring ahead of herself and her horse. She couldn't just sit there, could she? She hesitated, unsure what to do, but when the sounds continued, and the little girl screamed again, Regan reacted on instinct and she goaded Lucas off into a gallop toward where the sound had come from.

A bridge came into view after a moment or two, and what Regan saw was startling. Especially for the peaceful area she lived in. As she'd watched and brought Lucas to a stop, a creature that almost looked human had grabbed a man with red hair like her own on the other side of the river. She stared in complete and utter horror as what then happened shocked her completely. The pale creature wrapped its arms around the man's sides as if they were made of rubber, then its tongue, though Regan couldn't be sure if that's really what the black looking tentacle was or not, came out of its mouth and wound around his throat.

The sudden scream of the little girl sounded again, the man struggling to free himself, and Regan looked away from him to see the screaming child near the other side of the bridge. When she made the sound, the man yelled to her to run away again when he was cut off. The tongue stifled his yells, shoving its way into his newly opened mouth, and with a gruesome jerk, it stabbed down into the mans body, pulling its way out before stabbing down into it again. The motions caused the man's body to jerk and spasm violently. In response, the little girl screamed the word 'daddy' as loudly as she could.

Regan had put her hand over her mouth, and with the final stab of the tongue into the man's torso, she closed her eyes, unable to watch the scene from across the river where she sat on the back of her horse. Finally, she glanced back up when things got a bit more silent, her green eyes peering across the river once again, and she saw three men in black cloaks appearing from the trees beyond the scene, moving past the now dead man and the creature who'd killed him, and Regan saw the little girl running from one of the hooded figures who'd gotten particularly close to her.

The girl moved directly to the bridge as soon as the hooded and cloaked man came toward her. Regan gasped and as Evelyn, which Regan had guessed was the childs name from her father's words, reached the bridge, Regan took off into a hard gallop and headed straight for it.

Lucas reared up and then jumped off into a sprint, moving toward the bridge at top speed. The little girl saw them, and she gasped and slowed to a stop, but Regan called, "I'll catch you," hoping the girl would keep going. Even though Regan had no idea what was going on, she knew this little girl would be much better off out of these men's hands.

Evelyn looked back and saw the cloaked man behind her still coming, so she decided to trust Regan and she started running once again. Regan whispered to herself, "Good girl," then she stood up off of Lucas's back and leaned to the side being the accomplished rider she was. Her hand outstretched, the man gaining on Evelyn, he had gotten his hand just into the child's hair when Regan's arm wrapped around the little girls waist and she pulled her up from the ground and away from her pursuer.

Evelyn gasped as she was slung around and back up to the front of Regan, who pulled herself onto Lucas's back once that task had been completed, and then continued to ride through the woods at a breakneck pace. She had to get away from them now, and even though she had no idea what was going on, Regan would be damned if she'd let a little girl get killed even though she really had no idea why they were after her. Regan had a soft spot for children, and she would in no way let one get hurt for nothing or for a stupid reason.

Lucas rode gracefully through the trees, Regan trying all the while desperately to remember her way. As the trees passed them, Lucas suddenly stopped and reared back hard, throwing Regan and the little girl from his back because another, much larger horse had suddenly jumped across the river in front of them.

Hitting the ground, her body shielding the little girl from harm, Regan grunted, the wind knocked from her, and she shook her head. Lucas had started backing up, so Regan rolled to keep her horse from stepping on her, and then turned and looked back at the thing that had caused Lucas to throw his rider, separating Evelyn from it now with her body.

There was a hooded man on the much larger horses back, and Regan stared as the red eyes of the horse glowed down at her menacingly. Its body was sleek and well toned, muscled to a precise measure, its skin and fur soot black. As the hoofs took several steps forward toward Regan and the child behind her, she wondered what the hell she should do, what the hell this thing was, but she grasped Evelyn and pulled her tightly against her as she moved away, asking loudly no matter the fear she felt in the wake of this large, intimidating creature, "What do you want!?" She'd made her voice as serious and as angry sounding as possible.

"Hand over the girl, female, or suffer the same fate as him," the hooded figure motioned to the body floating by in the river now, his voice having been guttural, and somehow more beast like than man causing a shiver to run up and down her spine.

Evelyn was clutching Regan's arm, and Regan looked at the body the rider had just motioned to, then hid Evelyn's face from it until it was gone, trying her best to hide her fear in any way she could. She knew she was in deep shit, she'd never seen anything like this before. But she couldn't just let them trample her, she had to stand her ground, if only for the little girls sakes. Glancing back at the hooded figure, she spit out, "Sorry, bub, you're in Montana now, and we don't take kindly to strangers."

"Very well," the figure replied, pulling a long blade from his cloak with a black handle, the silver tip to it in the shape of a skeletal demons head, and the blade had two points on the sides at the end that looked menacing in itself. Somehow, Regan knew her only safe chance right now was to run, and so she grabbed Evelyn and pulled her up, turning to take off when she heard several gun shots, and she looked back. Someone was around, and she couldn't be entirely sure who it was. But hopefully, they were on her side.

Regan had no idea where he'd come from, but Dante suddenly appeared moving over the hill, running at a very swift pace, firing Ebony and Ivory at the figure on the horse. As he moved, he suddenly leapt up into the air, his body outstretched for more momentum, and as he neared the rider on the back of the demonic horse, he holstered his guns and drew out Rebellion.

Dante tackled the hooded figure off of the demon horse it rode with a fierceness Regan had never seen before, and somehow all she could do was stare at him. But the little girl got her attention, tears streaming down her cheeks as she pulled on Regan's shirt and pointed at Lucas. Regan glanced at her, then at her horse, and she knew that now was the time to take off, not continually be baffled by what was going on. So she pulled the young girl who couldn't have been older than four over to Lucas and mounted him again, then took off up the hill and toward the exit of the woods surrounding them.

The sounds of metal clashing could be heard from behind them, and Regan knew Dante and the rider were duking it out. If she'd been curious about Dante before, she was severally insistently needing to know now. But she couldn't concentrate on that. Instead, she just did the best she could, as fast as she could, and she got the little girl over the hill with her and hopefully out of harms way.

More importantly, and something else Regan didn't know yet was that the demonic horse had grown wings, which sprouted from his body in a bloody mass. As the creature thrashed, it suddenly leapt and took to the skies overhead in pursuit of the two females riding away from the scene.

Dante swiped his sword up at the rider he'd been fighting and knocked him backward into the river without much of a problem once he realized the horse was going to go after Regan. Dante had been following her, seeing where she would go, after all, he needed to know more about her, and seeing as she was seemingly the only one who'd given him any sort of friction since he'd arrived at the ranch, she was his best bet. Did he suspect her of anything? No. But he got the feeling somehow that he needed to take any chances he got whenever he got them now.

After hearing the screams, he'd just caught up with Regan, and by the time he'd found her, she and a little girl were being threatened.

It was about damned time something had started happening. Dante was beginning to believe Lady had been lied to.

But Dante pushed those thoughts from his head and he turned away from the rider he'd just knocked into the river because the more pressing issue at that moment was the safety of Regan, and the little girl with her.

Turning around completely, his coat swinging with him, his body began to transform, the black skin and red eyes of his devil form overtaking him with red electrical shocks surging over him, and Dante moved up into the air quickly to get back into this.

Regan was breathing hard as her horse galloped into the open field, and she heard the loud screech of the demonic flying horse behind her. Looking back for only a moment as the creatures body shadowed out the sun, she also caught sight of two other riders on horseback coming in behind her along the ground. Knowing she may not be able to outrun them, Regan looked ahead again and told Evelyn, "No matter what you do, don't let go of the horse."

She'd hoped by telling the little girl that, that even if something were to happen to herself, Lucas would ride the little girl to safety, eventually returning to the ranch as most domesticated animals did, and that she'd find someone there to help her. She felt the little girls fingers clutching her shirt tightly, and knew she'd heard her in that moment.

Regan only hoped it would work if the worst came to worse. But she knew things were bleak now, after all, what the hell were these things after her, and what was the new sound she'd just heard? Regan had no idea it was Dante's demonic cry followed by the sound of the flying horse screeching again as Dante had met it midair to let Rebellion have it's violent way with it.

Dante had slammed himself, sword first, into the flying horse, and they both went careening to the ground. One of the riders below was crushed by the falling winged horse. When it landed hard, after crushing the rider, the flying horse and Dante went spiraling along violently, up behind the second rider, but the flying horse turned with Dante under it and rammed its hooves into Dante's torso as it took off into flight again.

Dante grunted loudly, but he didn't stop, instead he just turned around as his body flipped over, and started moving quickly toward the second rider that hadn't been crushed, jumping up and then landing behind it, on the back of his horse.

Dante had returned to his human form now, had felt his power diminishing on his demon side, being in that form in the human world for too long, and as he landed on the back of the horse, he pulled out his guns and started shooting at the rider who'd pulled out a jagged sword, much different from the one the rider that had threatened Regan had used. Managing to keep his balance, Dante looked up at the flying demon for just a short moment in the time it took the rider he was now facing off with to pull his sword, and he could see Rebellion still jammed through its torso. The sight made him roll his eyes.

But he didn't have time to think about it. The rider had thrust his own jagged blade back, and Dante grabbed the riders shoulders, then pushed his legs up into the air using the riders body as leverage to avoid the blow. Holding onto the rider now, Dante turned his body in a 180 over his head, then came back down and landed in front of him, facing him.

The rider brought his blade back around and Dante thrust his fist out to stop his arm, then used Ebony right up against the riders forehead beneath the hood, a clothe covering his face and leaving his identity in mystery. Still, Dante knew that none of them were human, it was all too apparent.

"Yippie ky yi yay, mother fucker."

Dante pulled the trigger. The bullet flew forth from the gun, and made its journey into the skull of the rider, traveling through the mass inside of it, then out of the back of his head. The force of the shot sent the rider careening backwards off of the horse, and left Dante riding backwards with a weak replacement for his sword Rebellion in the form of a jagged blade that he flipped around in his hand to use for now.

Harnessing his gun and doing a hand stand on the horses back, Dante spun his legs around again and sat down in the saddle, then he looked ahead. Trees were incoming.

Dante grunted and he brought the sword up hard and then drew the jagged blade down through the bark of a branch threatening to knock him off of the horse he was on. At that, he looked ahead and caught sight of Regan off in the distance. So he grabbed the reigns and turned the horse in that direction, using a lot of strength to do so, hoping the damned thing would listen to him.

Seeing that it seemed to be following Regan no matter what he was telling it, Dante decided to stop manhandling it and let it, then noticed that the horse was also intentionally trying to knock him off of his back by ramming into trees. Dante rolled his eyes and used the blade he had to smack the horses flanks as hard as he could, yelling, "Yee haw!"

Regan heard Dante behind her, and she drew her own reigns to the side and pulled her own horse to a stop, believing she'd lost them as Dante's cry had sounded distant. Looking back though, she saw Dante incoming a good distance away, then she looked up and knocked her hat back off of her head so that she could see. The flying horse was also bearing in on them, and Regan jumped off of her own horse and continued to hold onto Evelyn tightly. Somehow she got the feeling that she might have better luck not only in the trees, but also on foot against such a large creature. After all, Dante had apparently gotten rid of two of the riders, and while she didn't know how, she also knew that if he could do that, then just maybe he'd be able to get rid of the other things following them, and that it might be easier for him if she helped by not running so much.

"Come on, Regan, don't move," Dante urged her aloud in a whisper because he'd gotten an idea. "Not yet."

Regan continued to stand there, just as Dante wanted. She turned suddenly though and smacked Lucas's hind flanks, sending the horse off into a gallop and then looked back again at the creature in the air. She'd gotten her own idea. Evelyn looked back herself, seeing the flying horse incoming, and then she hid her head in Regan's chest. Knowing the child was scared, Regan spoke, "Shh, it's okay." While Regan wasn't completely sure of that, she wanted to at least try and waylay any fears the child had as children drew most of their security from that of adults and the way _they_ acted.

The flying horse moved to swoop in on them both. Dante had just reached the scene from the horse he was riding. Pushing himself up, now that the flying demon was close enough, he jumped from his own horses back just as he shot it in the head, and then yelled loudly as he came down to the flying demons back, grabbing the hilt of Rebellion sticking from its body on the way there, and didn't stop. He began running across the horses body, dragging the blade of his sword through it as it screeched loudly and went crashing into the ground where Regan had once stood, but moved from since then.

Dante pulled the blade from the horses head and went flying forward, turning a flip with his sword casually placed across his shoulders as he landed on his feet as if he'd just taken a walk in the park and then he turned around to look at his handy work. Watching the horse he'd just killed laying there twitching and spasming as its body turned into nothingness, Dante sighed, "Hi ho Silver, away," he muttered.

As the body disintegrated, something shiny was left in its place. It made Dante lift a brow, and he slowly walked over toward it. A weapon was now jutting out of the ground, and tilting his head, he put Rebellion onto his back again and then reached a gloved hand out and grabbed it. Pulling it from the ground, Dante could tell it was a boomerang with two black handles that reminded him of something like on Star Trek in the form of a Klingon Batlif. The boomerang was bladed as well, the shape of two wings spread out, each tip of the feathers in the wings sharpened to a precise measure. Pegasus was the name of the weapon.

Dante smirked, knowing he could use this one in both close range combat _and_ at a distance, though long distance fighting would be slower than with Ebony and Ivory. He swung the blade up and around skillfully, then hauled off and threw it in much the same manner.

As the blade began to spin through the forest, Dante watched it, a wave of white light seeming to shudder out in its wake, and it suddenly rammed into the thick trunk of a tree. The boomerang cut through the trunk like butter, then another, and finally a third one, every time it hit a tree it made a loud explosion echo into the distance. The resulting cracks and crunches of the trees then falling over sounded, and Dante couldn't help his grin as he exclaimed, "Fucking _sweet_!"

He caught the boomerang when it came back to him and then put it on his back across Rebellion in the opposite direction, turning to take a look around the forest when the trees finally hit the ground behind him. "Timber," he said softly without a care in the world.

But even in that brief moment of reprieve that had been gained came a loud yell. It wasn't over yet.

When the large winged horse that had just dropped the weapon for Dante had hit the ground, it'd thrown Regan forward as she'd gone running to get out of harms way, and she grunted as she landed, then looked around for Evelyn. She spotted the child just a moment later, laying in the grass nearby, shaken up, but okay. With a sigh of relief, Regan pushed herself up and looked back for a moment, attempting to figure out where Dante had gone since she was very interested in that moment in demanding some answers from him, but her eyes stopped because of what she saw not too far away from her, and it was getting closer.

The last horse that Dante had used to ride into the area on was now heading for her. The shot from Dante's gun had only caused it to lose its track for a moment, but now he seemed to be completely ready to plow someone over. Regan stared for a moment, then looked for somewhere to take shelter, telling Evelyn who'd just gotten up to hide quickly. That's when Regan saw the jagged blade Dante had thrown just before he'd jumped from the horse jutting out of the trunk of a tree, and she ran and grabbed it, pulled on it from the tree trunk it was embedded in.

Regan couldn't get it out, it was wedged too deeply into the bark, and the horse was getting closer. She finally yelled with the effort, and feeling the blade coming free, she turned as hard as she could and hurled the blade at it. Regan had no idea if she'd hit it or not, but she figured it would give her the chance she needed to get out of harms way. The blade went flying and lodged itself right into the horses chest.

Regan jumped as the creature faltered in its gallop and fell to the ground, knocking up dirt and debris in its wake. A few pieces of wood and rock flew through the air, and one of the rocks hit Regan right on the head. Her upper body flew to the side and laid still there in the dirt grass surrounding her, completely still, a sudden silence taking over the very recently loud and chaotic forest.

Dante came running to the scene not a moment later, saw the last dissolving horse, and he turned quickly and aimed his guns when he heard some rustling in the bushes behind him. Lowering Ebony and Ivory almost immediately however, he saw Evelyn come running from the trees, so he put he put his guns back up. Without warning, Evelyn threw herself at him and hugged his leg tightly. The movement made Dante lift a brow, but all things considered, he wasn't offended by it one bit. After all, she was like what, four years old? She was probably scared to death still.

Shaking his head down at Evelyn, Dante decided he needed to find Regan. "Hey, Regan!" He called out, glancing about the area. She couldn't have been far. And with everything that had just gone down, he didn't feel anymore shaken up for it than he would have if he'd been having a cup of tea sitting on a front porch relaxing, this was old shit to Dante, but he knew the story would probably be different for his new 'bosslady'. She was probably going to be throwing a shit fit when he finally found her again, wondering what the hell had been going on.

Finally, he saw her, and with the kid latched onto him like a suction cup, he ran over to her, bent down and lifted her toward him. Evelyn let go when he stopped, and she gasped when she saw the blood trailing down the side of Regan's face. She moved to the other side of the currently unconscious woman and stared at Dante worriedly.

Dante wasn't sure what to do. He didn't have a lot of experience dealing with injuries like this, and he pulled Regan up and yelled her name, trying to see if she'd respond. She looked so damned weak, and the blood staining the side of her face almost looked like more of her hair since it was the same color. But she still hadn't answered him, so he yelled her name again and started patting the opposite cheek that wasn't covered in the red liquid. Regan moved then and she groaned softly. Despite the pain in her voice, Dante guessed that meant she was probably going to be alright.

Her green eyes started fluttering open, and she saw two Dante's hovering above her at first, felt his tight grip on her body, and she groaned out, "As if one wasn't enough."

"One what?" Dante asked, slightly confused.

"Of you," she grumbled, "I'm seeing double and I'm dizzy."

"Well shit, if I was a chick and I saw two of me, I'd get dizzy too."

The arrogant comment wasn't lost on Regan, and despite the fact that earlier in the day she'd decided she completely hated his arrogance, in this situation it actually made her smirk a bit. But she yawned only a short moment afterward. Her head bobbed slightly and she whispered, "I'm sleepy."

"Don't go to sleep, Regan," Dante told her, lifting her up. While he didn't know much about medical shit, he _did_ know that if you got a concussion, and you fell asleep, you might not ever wake up again. While he wasn't sure that was what Regan had gotten, he also didn't want to chance it.

"Where's the little girl?" She asked when she felt Dante pulling her up, and as she tried to stand, she stumbled a bit, her currently lack of thought causing her to not even care when her head came to rest against his shoulder from the stumble.

"She's here, she's safe. I'm taking you back to the ranch." He replied, uncaring about her closeness himself.

"Whistle for Lucas," Regan whispered to him, "he'll be around somewhere, I hope."

Dante just nodded to her comment and he started walking from the woods with her, whistling loudly for the horse to come for them whenever he got the chance to. Eventually, Regan passed out again anyway, and Dante knew that wasn't good. As her body went limp when they'd come to the clearing of trees, he had to catch her, and he pulled her up, "Hey Regan, wake up damn it, I'm not carrying you." He tried to wake her, but she wouldn't respond to him, and he checked her pulse. Still alive. If she was going to be okay, he had to get her back to the ranch pretty quick.

Dante turned his head whistled very loudly again, and he smirked when he heard the little girl trying to whistle for Lucas as well but then ending up spitting onto the ground and covering her mouth, her big bright blue eyes wide with embarrassment.

"Keep it up, kid, you'll have some good distance one day," Dante replied, lifting Regan up since she'd fainted to carry her. His words before of not carrying her had just been to try and get her to wake up as he particularly didn't give a damn. Evelyn stared up at Dante as if she were seriously considering what he'd said about spitting while she held onto Regan's hand, and Dante whistled once more, followed by yelling, "Damn it Lucas, get your ass out here!"

Lucas seemed to come trotting up just after that, making Dante roll his eyes. "Next time I'm just saying your name. This is why I drive cars."

From there, he put Evelyn onto the horse by grabbing the back of her shirt and lifting her, watching her grab the saddle and pull herself onto it. She cutely tried to pull at Dante and Regan when Dante went to mount the horse, looking at the contraption on its back to try and figure out how to go about it. Evelyn pointed at the stirrups, and he figured it out from there. Dante had never really mounted a horse before, or really ridden one, but all things considered, it wasn't too difficult for him to get done once he got down to it. When he did finally situate himself, he grimaced, trying to get his personals in the right place. "Son of a," he cut himself off short before he said something the little girl might not appreciate. "How the hell do guys ride these things?"

Evelyn had turned and held onto Regan as Dante grabbed the reigns, looking from side to side, "Where's the gas pedal?"

Evelyn eyed Dante. He looked at her. Then she took the reigns and slapped them gently, showing Dante a move with her feet that would goad the horse into a gallop. Dante mimicked her and Lucas started trotting. "Okay, makes sense." He figured from common sense and what he'd seen before that he could probably lead Lucas around well enough from there and tell him exactly where to go, so he went ahead and started off into a gallop to get them the rest of the way to the ranch, constantly checking Regan on the way there.

Evelyn never said a word and as they crossed the field, and while they rode, Dante glanced at her, wondering for a second how exactly she was going to play into all of this. After all, that winged horse hadn't been a particularly powerful demon, but it was sure as hell persistent, and so were the other things chasing them. Hopefully, after he got back to the ranch, he'd be able to find out, at least a little more.

--

Arias had rolled his eyes, looking at the riders who'd moved through the field with a sigh, and he pursed his lips. Two of the cloaked beings stood with him now, and he turned around, giving them both a look that suggested he wasn't pleased. "You know," he started, "you're just as worthless as," he tried to think of the most worthless thing he could, and ended up telling them, "well, to be honest, I think you've broken the Arias book of world records when it comes to worthlessness."

Grumbling, Arias looked back at the riders, at Dante in specific, then he pointed, "You see that half man, half devil there? This is what you get when you have a need for vengeance. Now he's riding away with Daddy's precious Sacrifice, and I'm going to get blamed for it." Arias's eyes had turned black with his anger, completely black, but only for a moment as he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Okay, you know, instead of brandishing you, I'm going to allow you to live for now. I'll just let you all die at the hands of Dante as your pathetic brother did. After all, you may still and yet be useful to me."


	6. Mystery Solving

_Chapter 5 - Mystery Solving_

The room started coming into view, blurring together. Regan didn't feel any pain, instead, she just felt a slight euphoria, but that euphoria didn't last when she'd tried to move. She grimaced slightly and took a deep, slow breath. A voice from somewhere near her said, "Uh huh, you got a nasty bump on your head, you need to just stay put."

The sound of the doctors voice, or Jack's father to be more specific, made Regan part her lids once again over her mint green eyes, turn her head slightly. The older, somewhat broad man was sitting in a chair near the bed, and Regan cringed slightly before she asked, "How long was I out, Doc?"

Everyone referred to Jack as Doc considering he and his son shared the same name and it was the best way for them to differentiate between the two. Doc just smirked, "Most of the evening. Lucas seemed to throw ya pretty good, you've got a bad bruise on your back, but it should go away in a few days or so. I didn't have to stitch your head up either, thankfully, but I want you to keep those butterflies on it for at least the next week, I'll be coming by to change them when you need them to be. But for tonight, I just want you to rest."

Regan yawned, guessing that wasn't going to be too big of a problem considering how she felt, and she just shrugged her shoulders very slightly. Then her mind went back to the events of before, the reasons she was in this situation, and what she'd seen in the forest earlier that day. She opened her eyes again, looking at Doc as he'd stood up. "Doc, wait. Where's Dante and the little girl?"

"She's right next to you actually."

As soon as he mentioned it, Regan felt the warmth on her left side radiating through her, turning her head to look and see Evelyn curled up against her. She looked completely serene and peaceful, and Regan took a slow breath, glad that was one question answered. "I want," she stopped herself, "no, I need to see Dante. Could you find him for me?"

"I can try. Just relax though, Regan, I don't want you doing too much." He told her that as he moved toward the door. "I'll be right back if I can't find him, okay?"

"Okay," she whispered back to the doctor, sighing softly as she looked at Evelyn again. Regan was innately confused now. Ever since Dante had shown up, some awfully strange things had been going on, both with himself and with everything surrounding them as well. She could only wonder what the scenes she'd witnessed earlier had been about, and in the time it took Dante to get to her room, she'd managed to get herself slightly worked up into a bit of a worry.

Dante opened the door, the doctors advice to him about not giving Regan a reason to become agitated playing through his head as he wondered how the fuck he was supposed to pull that off. After all, Regan knew something was up with him now, and she knew something else was going on that didn't exactly concern him, and the answers were going to be pretty stressful for her more than likely. But she'd said she needed to see him, and Dante knew why that was. So he'd gone to find out, as if he didn't know, what she'd wanted, and he moved into the room quietly, pulling the chair back with his foot and sitting in it, watching her.

Regan had opened her eyes when she heard the chair moving, and she glanced at the white haired man sitting across from her. When she did, Dante nodded slowly, "Hi, feeling okay?"

"I'm drugged up, so I'm alright, I guess," she whispered softly. "What about you?"

"I'm completely fine," he replied, glancing at the little girl for a moment. She was dead to the world next to Regan, and she looked as if she weren't going to wake up anytime soon for anything. Dante, once he'd had that thought, glanced his icy hues back at Regan who seemed to be staring at him questioningly. He wondered what she could be thinking in that moment. As it turned out, he didn't have to wait too long to get his answer.

"What were those things in the forest? What's going on, Dante? Why do I feel like you have all the answers?"

She hadn't sounded accusing as he'd thought she might, but only pleading for some kind of information, as if she just needed to know why she was laid up in a bed right now with a strange little girl clinging to her side so tightly. He couldn't blame her for wanting to know either. Dante sighed, "I don't have all of the answers, but I do have a few. So to start off, those things were demons."

Regan couldn't help herself but to give him a stare for a few moments that shimmered her deep thought over and over again in her minty eyes. Finally, she shook her head, "Demons? You mean, like from hell?"

"Yep," he replied flatly. "Same thing."

"And what about you," she returned without skipping a beat. "I know you're not human either. You can't be."

With a sigh, Dante turned his head, his eyes rolling slightly, "I am, just not completely. I'm half demon."

Silence ensued his reply. No matter what events Regan had seen earlier, something inside of her told her not to believe him, told her she didn't _want_ to believe him, and that he was completely full of it. How could he be telling the truth? She shook her head slowly at the thought. How could he be _lying_? Her eyes closed when she had that question run through her head, and she whispered back out, "Tell me the truth about everything then, about why you're here, and who you _really_ are. A drifter? Honestly?"

Dante wasn't completely sure he wanted to answer all of that. He just knew that he'd apparently found what he'd been looking for finally, the demon activity Nathan Morrison, who still remained a mystery, had reported to him and Lady, and everything else was still in the dark. His clues had only been complicated as well. Where it used to be a group of demonic cultists causing problems, now there were people dying and a little girl was orphaned apparently. Who was to say what was going down where?

"Dante, please answer me," Regan spoke a little more loudly, her voice a bit more stern. "At least tell me if I'm in danger, if my ranch is in danger."

Dante shrugged, looking at her again, "I don't know that, Regan. I _was_ sent here by someone to stop a demon infestation though, I'm a devil hunter, I can tell you that much. The rest of it doesn't matter though, for now," he added when he saw the look on her face that said she really wanted to know. "The honest truth is that I'm confused myself. I haven't been able to contact the guy who hired me, and I have no idea where he is. He said this place was where I needed to go, but this place is completely fucking normal, so I don't know what the hell he was smoking. I have no idea who the kid is, I have no clue what those monsters wanted from her, I just know that I'm not going to be leaving any time soon until I can find out what the fuck is going on."

Despite his somewhat gruff way of saying that, and despite what Regan had just found out about him, she somehow felt comforted by his words, somehow felt that he was probably the only one who _could_ set things straight around here. And in that moment, she also felt completely fucking helpless, in the dark. That was a feeling she didn't like one damned bit, and she let him know it too. "I hate not knowing anything, Dante."

"So do I, princess," Dante muttered, "we're in the same boat."

"Yeah," Regan sighed, "and it's up shit creek without a paddle."

Snorting in amusement, Dante smiled with a shake of his head, "I doubt that. Besides, the little girl seemed to know what was going on and she's not worried too much, she's passed out asleep."

"Huh?" Regan asked, "Evelyn?"

"Is that her name?"

"Yeah, well, that's what I heard the man she was with yelling at her before he was killed."

Dante thought about that for a moment. He knew a man had been killed, saw his body in the river before he'd started fighting with the first demon whose horse had turned all Pegasus on him, and he could only wonder if perhaps Nathan...

With a sigh, Dante's shook his head, not wanting that to have been his only contact on this mission, it would've meant he was far more in the dark than he cared to admit. But his thoughts on the matter were suddenly interrupted when he saw Evelyn lifting her head up slowly and staring at the two of them. She started rubbing her eyes and then yawned loudly. Dante gave the kid a smile and told her, "Look who's up."

Evelyn shoved her thumb into her mouth as she sat on her bottom next Regan and blinked at Dante quietly. Then she looked at Regan, who smiled back at her, asking, "Are you okay?"

Evelyn nodded a few times and Dante watched her, wondering if maybe she knew a lot more than they'd hoped. He finally decided to ask, "You wouldn't know someone named Nate or Nathan, wouldya, kid?"

Evelyn looked at Dante and she stared blankly, making the devil hunter wonder if she even understood him. But then her blue eyes glanced down and she hiccuped, pulling her thumb from her mouth for a moment. "Daddy," she whispered quietly, the first word either of the two of them had ever heard her say yet.

Dante, though he felt badly for the kid having lost her parent like that, knowing from personal experience how it felt, couldn't help but ask her a moment after she spoke the word, "Morrison? Is that your last name?"

Evelyn looked up at Dante in that moment. Suddenly her head nodded, and her brown curls bounced back and forth. Well, Dante thought, that answered one question, and raised a shitload of other ones. First of all, Dante wondered if Nathan had been killed because he'd called Dante into this, or if maybe something else completely unknown was happening. There were simply too many problems at this point and not enough solutions. Dante hated these kinds of missions, where he knew for a fact, had seen with his own two eyes, that there were shitty demons about strong enough to wreak havoc on a small town if they wanted to, but at the beginning were so hard to figure out that by the time he'd really gotten anywhere, things had complicated themselves immensely.

Regan asked Evelyn one of the questions Dante had forgotten about by that point, interrupting his thoughts, and he was suddenly glad she'd thought of it. "Do you know why they're after you, sweety?"

Evelyn shook her head no. She continued to suck her thumb, and Regan just brushed her hair back gently, giving her a reassuring smile. Dante caught her attention though because he'd moved and stood up. She looked at him, watched him walking over to the side of the bed, and he sat down near Evelyn as he tilted his head. "Did you guys have a house, kid?"

Evelyn nodded again, cutely bouncing because she was doing it so vigorously.

"Okay, any idea where it was?"

Evelyn got a look of thought onto her face. Dante waited. Then she grabbed Dante's hand with her opposite thumb still in her mouth and she stood up, jumping from the bed in her little nightgown which Doc had given to her, and started trying to pull on him. Dante stood up and went with her. Regan watched them both go and she asked him, "Wait, are you sure she'll have any idea?"

"No," Dante replied as he went with the kid, "but I don't have any idea anyway, so it's better than nothing."

Regan groaned softly as the door opened and Evelyn pulled him out of the room. The blind leading the blind and cocky. This didn't seem like it'd end up any good. But she hoped to god Dante could either actually find something, or would know what he was doing if he didn't. If not, she had the feeling she was going to be sleeping with her gun under her pillow for a while now.

Evelyn pulled Dante down to the lobby of the lodge where no one was at due to the late hour and she ran to a chair, pushing it across the floor behind the front desk, then she climbed up on it. Earlier, when she'd been in the lobby with Doc and Jack, who'd been trying to decide on what to do with her, she'd noticed a book of maps below the counter which she'd pulled out and began to look at.

The page was left open on the ring bound book on the same page that she'd been looking at it on when Jack had told her where the ranch was. So lifting the book onto the counter top, she pressed her index finger down the page and looked for the spot again. That's when Dante told her, "Yeah, that's where we are, Black Wing Creek," he pointed to it.

Dante was a bit surprised the kid remembered the book and where Jack had pointed out the area to her, because he'd seen her doing it while he'd stood idly by just listening to everyone chatting and trying to explain what had happened. While he'd told a complete lie, that Regan had just been thrown off of her horse, and that he had no idea where the kid had come from, he knew that it would suffice for now, and that things would be taken care of soon enough.

When Dante pointed it out again, Evelyn nodded and traced her finger along the line next to it, causing Dante to say, "Yeah, the river, where Regan found you, right?"

Again, she nodded. Then she circled her finger around the area on the other side of the river and stared up at him. She then whispered, "Rosecrest road."

"Rosecrest, huh?" Dante asked. "Well, you gave me an area and a street name, guess I can find my way from there, huh?" He reached out and patted her head. "You gonna be good and take care of the place while I'm gone?"

Evelyn started nodding her head as Dante began walking away, grabbing the map for himself so he'd have something to refer to. Once he was at the door, she suddenly jumped up from the chair and moved toward him in a sprint. Dante blinked when she grabbed his hand and tugged on it, looking up at him. Returning her glance, he heard her whispering, "Please come back."

The line caused an arrogant smirk to form on Dante's lips, looking the kid over as she stared at him so cute and pleadingly. Patting the girls head again and ruffling her hair, he told her, "I won't be gone for long," then he opened the front door and walked outside. Looking back in, he added, "You know how to get back to Regan's room, right?"

Once more, Evelyn nodded her head yes, not very talkative due to the trauma she'd witnessed earlier. Dante watched her turning to run back to the steps, and he tilted his head in her direction as she made her way up them quickly and then disappeared out of sight, the sound of a door opening and shutting with a slight slam sounding a few moments later. Shaking his head, he shut the front door and walked out into the cold, glad for his trench coat in that moment.

It was what Dante referred to as a shitty cold night. Clouds had gathered in the sky again, and while Dante didn't know what the forecast for the weather was, he knew what the smell of snow was like, and it seemed to be all around him now. Guessing they might see some more of the white stuff falling before morning time, he decided to get going before he ended up stuck somewhere and froze his ass off.

--

Rosecrest Rd. The sign that read those letters was carved out of wood, so far out into the countryside that it didn't even have a normal street sign. The thought had made Dante roll his eyes, knowing now he was in the middle of bum fuck egypt, and as he turned Cherry onto the road, his heater on full blast, he looked at all of the trees and drove at a moderate pace of twenty miles an hour through the area so as to not miss anything, though he doubt he'd miss a damned thing among the mass of trees surrounding him. Anything was sure to stick out like a sore thumb among the monotony.

Or at least, he hoped it would.

The further down the road he got, the more the trees seemed to clear, and a few flurries had started falling from the sky. Once the trees seemed to open up much more for him, Dante came across a pale blue house that looked warm and cozy, except for the fact that some of the windows had been broken out of it, leaving the drapes on the inside to blow out into the cold breeze of the night. It was the first house he'd come across, and in a tree in the side yard was a tire swing hanging from one of the high up branches. Dante guessed it was as good of a choice as any, and he stopped the car, then turned the engine off. Opening his door, he got out, turned, and then reached into the backseat, pulling Rebellion from the floorboards. He'd felt somewhat safer keeping the large sword there than having just brought it into the ranch, knowing everyone might've given him real shit about it, wondering why the hell he would have been carrying it. Besides, he didn't need a sword, not with the twins he was packing.

Putting the sword onto his back where he usually kept it, he shut the door finally and then walked around his car and toward the house, the white flakes of snow camouflaging themselves in his hair as he made his way along. On the walkway, Dante saw a teddy bear, and he leaned down to pick it up. Maybe it belonged to Evelyn. From there, he looked up and continued on, carrying the bear with him and setting it on the front porch steps. Walking up them, he could see that the front door was actually jarred open, and pulling his weapons free, he lifted his head to the side with a narrowed brow, using his shoulder to push the door open. It creaked slightly before swinging to, and he stepped inside, his stance casual, but his movements quiet, and being able to see somewhat better than a regular human in the dark, he decided to leave the lights out, saying they worked anyway.

The inside of the house was in complete ruin. Things were torn apart, marks were in the walls that looked at if swords had been swung, and gunshots were here and there marking the walls and other such objects. On the floor lay a childs suitcase containing girls clothing that had fallen out of it in a mess, and Dante kept that in mind for later. After all, they'd had hell earlier trying to find something for the little girl to sleep in, which had eventually been one of Jack's niece's gowns. The clothing would more than likely come in handy.

Dante didn't try to pick it up for now though. The place seemed pretty dead, so he felt a little safer about looking through everything around for the moment before he collected what he felt would be useful and took it back to the ranch. Dante holstered his guns, and then started searching through the house.

It seemed as if nothing was where it should have been except for maybe a few pieces of larger furniture that weren't so easily moved. Turning his head to the side, Dante saw a picture of two people hanging on the wall, and he lifted his hand up and pulled it down. Evelyn was in the photo, it was fairly recent it looked like, and she was standing next to a man with blood red hair.

It looked like the same color as Regans. The realization made Dante lift a brow, but a sound caught his attention. Looking around slowly, he noticed a book on a nicely crafted secretary in the living room that was open, the wind coming in through the broken windows blowing through the pages, flipping them back and forth. Moving toward the book, Dante picked it up and opened two random pages to see what they said.

It appeared to be a journal, and the signature said 'Nathan Morrison', so Dante knew he was in the right place finally. With the book still clutched between his fingers, Dante heard a voice coming from behind him, almost singing quietly as he turned around to face who the voice was coming from, "Farewell and adieu to our dear Nathan Morrison. Farewell and adieu to our dear little Nate. For your bid to bring Dante to the fray was so fitting, but sadly he'd found you a little too late."

Dante sighed. Not another one, he thought to himself. Rolling his eyes, he pocketed the book he was holding and pulled out his guns, taking several shots at the pale, dark clothed demon before him, watching as his bullets seemed to ricochet through smoke when they hit him. But even still, the demon acted as if he were hurt, and he yelled, "Okay! Geeze, you have no idea how much that fucking stings, asshole."

Grumbling, Dante stopped pulling the triggers, but continue to hold the demon at gunpoint. "Good, you know my name, so who the fuck are you?" He asked.

Arias snorted, looking his robes over as if there would be a hole somewhere in them, and he told Dante as he inspected them, "Just a pawn apparently. But my name would be Arias, though," he stopped as he looked over at Dante, his brow narrowed, "however, I think your _real_ question is more something along the lines of perhaps," he cleared his throat, then spoke in Dante's voice, "what the fuck is going on, man?"

"Cute," Dante muttered blandly, then he harnessed his guns, not wanting to waste anymore time on this guy than he had to. After all, demons were so full of themselves that if Arias had something to say, he was going to say it regardless of whether or not Dante wanted to hear it, so Dante decided to just turn away and look for more shit around the house, guessing he might get a few clues from this guy as he went along.

"Damn it," Arias drew his fist up to his forehead in irritation when Dante turned and started walking away from him. "I hate it when they do that."

"Do what," Dante asked him from the hallway, "walk away from you? Cause I get the feeling people do that to you a lot."

"Yeah, yeah," Arias stared down at the floor blankly, nodding his head a bit as if it were completely true, "you might be right. But!," he held up his finger and started walking into the hallway, "what if they didn't, what if they actually wanted to speak to me. Hmm, oh what would I have to say?" Arias asked him. "Would it be anything you're interested in, or would I just be stringing you along, quite like I am now," he added in a more frustrated tone of voice, "just because you think I'd _only_ annoy you and nothing more."

Dante, who'd walked halfway up the steps, looked back at Arias with a lifted brow. "Look dude, you're annoying just to look at, so I think I'll just take my chances." With a slight scoff, Dante then turned to go back up the steps, and looking up, he couldn't help his sudden start because of the person he saw standing before him.

Vergil.

Dante's brows narrowed, and he turned to look back at Arias only to find the demon gone. Vergil, or what Dante had figured was Vergil's illusion at the hands of Arias, stepped down the steps toward him. Dante knew he was right when he heard the voice that wasn't his brothers, yet the demon he'd just faced, "Somehow, Dante, I think I have much more that I could tell you than you could ever realize."

As he stepped forward, his form shimmered in black smoke and returned to the pale demon he really was, and he added, "I know that pisses you off, me, imitating your brother, but I only did so to prove a point. That point being I'm not merely here for some game of tag. I do have things to tell you, and you'd do well to listen. I'm not interested in wasting _both_ of our times."

Dante felt his anger washing through his body in those few moments, wanting to know why he'd chosen Vergil to get his attention, why he'd said he knew more than Dante thought if it wasn't something about his brother, but before he went off on an ass whipping spree, he decided to give the demon a chance to speak. Finally, he waved his hand and then crossed his arms over his chest, "Alright, I'm listening for a few minutes."

"Good," Arias replied, stopping on the landing of the steps, rising to the same height as Dante, and he started out, "Yes, Nathan lived here, and so did his daughter, Evelyn. Yes, Nathan got you out here _before_ he became a treacherous bastard, all so that he could lure you into my _daddy_'s," he spoke sarcastically, "web of vengeance, and no, I won't show you what Regan looks like naked, you'll have to find that out on your own."

The last line made Dante's eyebrow lift. "You can do that?"

Arias grinned and looked around, then he leaned in, "It's great to be a demon sometimes. She has this little mole on her–," Arias stopped suddenly when Ebony was lifted to his forehead, "leg."

Dante smirked, then he pulled the gun back a bit, though still aimed it at Arias, "Is that all you have to tell me? Your daddy's web of vengeance?"

"Oh yeah," Arias spoke as if he'd just remembered. "Sorry, talk of moles and such, got me sidetracked. Anyway, I know Nathan said something to that partner of yours about Democrities and all that cult shit going on," he rounded Dante as if he were thinking while he spoke, and Dante continued to face him, watching him moving. "Probably told you that Black Wing Creek was where it originated. Ha ha ha," he drew out his sarcastic laughter slowly. "He was actually the leader of that cult of Democrites, and well, he betrayed them. No, it had nothing to do with you, I know you were wondering that, so I'll be a good little demon and tell the truth for once." He looked at Dante coming to a stop. "What do you think of the term Ariacrites? I've been thinking of organizing my own religion." He suddenly snapped his fingers as if he'd just come up with a really god idea. "We can have a Dantanian sub sect."

Dante scoffed, and ignoring his little idea, he asked Arias, "If Democrities is your father, then why are you referring to the Democrites as _they_? Aren't you one of their happy little numbers?"

The look on Arias's face was stoic, very flat. A cricket chirped and Dante could only wonder if Arias had done that for dramatic effect. Suddenly though, Arias held up his hand and pointed, "Haha, you're joking right? Me? Worship _that_ pile of maggot shit? HAHA!" He suddenly started laughing in earnest. Holding his stomach, he snickered as he shook his head, "That's the best one I've heard in a long time, buddy. You should get into comedy. But no," he sobered up from his amusement, standing straight again, "I _hate_, no wait, _loathe_ that bastard. You know he slept with his own mother?" Arias shivered.

Even Dante wrinkled his nose. "Okay, I don't think I wanna hear anymore."

"Yeah, and you know what came out of it don't you? _Me_!," Arias yelled slightly. "It's emotionally scarred me for years and years." He sighed. But he could sense that Dante was getting to the limit of his patience and so Arias just shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, anyway, to be bluntly honest, Democrities doesn't seem to fathom the concept that his little quest for vengeance is just going to fuck up his plans. I mean honestly, dragging _you_ into his little schemes? I saw what you did to our pet horse. By the way, how are you liking the weapon?"

"It's a damned good one, never had a boomerang before," Dante replied, somehow finding that talk with this guy seemed to be a bit grating on his nerves, but at the same time interesting. So he'd allowed it to continue for as long as he had. After all, if Arias actually hated his father, perhaps he'd be useful.

Arias nodded with Dante, "I know," he lifted his finger, "Democrities has a ton of good shit. It's really sad. And for all of his little toys, he knows jack about how to use them, right? So here I am, watching things for him, trying to hold shit together when he's throwing his little Quietuses at me just for pissing him off, and in the meantime, while he's wanting to do his own son in, he's letting you, the guy he _really_ wants to kill, just wander around freely. Tell me something Dante Sparda, honestly, is that not the most moronic thing you've ever heard? Well, saying you believe me that is."

Dante snorted, "Yeah, if you're telling the truth, it's pretty damned idiotic. No way I can trust you though." He had to admit however, he found it a little odd that Arias would say something like that to lie about it. Honestly, Dante could really think of no gain the demon would get in doing so, as he didn't seem to be trying to buddy up with the devil hunter at all, and only making an honest observation. It was probably the first time Dante had ever spoken with what was a 'bad guy' of the mission and actually agreed with him over an observation. But pushing those thoughts from his head he just asked Arias, "And what's a Quietus?"

Arias shivered, "Oh, you don't want to know my half blooded friend. Let's just say they're what did poor Nate in. But as for you, I wanted to give you this warning. You were brought into this because Sparda killed Democrities father, and now Democrities wants to kill you, he thinks it will be a fitting symbol of his new power in this world when he gains it. Thus," Arias turned, becoming much less animated, walking to the door, "you've become, as I, a pawn in this farce of a play, the act coming to a close, our curtain drawing down." He moved to the front door, Dante narrowing his brows in the demons wake.

Arias stopped in the doorframe, then he finished, "As for your brother Vergil, his final act is about to take place. I thought perhaps to tell you that he's been holding his own in the Underworld for quite some time now, giving us lowly demons the advantage we need, and so for that, we thank him. But if you want to know more, then our little scene must die for the moment, before my father witnesses that I'm not actually here to kill you. That being told, fall lightly to thine feet, with the soft grace of the falling snow, for ye know not when the master shows himself."

Dante wanted to stop Arias now, hearing his words of Vergil's final act, wondering what he'd meant, but before he could get anywhere close to the door as Arias disappeared from it, he heard the familiar sound of vortexes opening, temporary portals from hell from which demons were being summoned to attack him. Looking up at the swirling pools of light, Dante saw the Quietuses emerging from them, landing on the floor and coming toward him as soon as they did so, their lumbering bodies not the best thing he'd seen for a good long while by far.

"Great, another unoriginal plot device by an overly dramatic demon," he muttered, turning his guns on them quickly.

The first one was close enough that automatically shrieked as its arms reached out quickly in a rubber like way, grabbing for the devil hunter who started shooting at the thing and moved to the side, stepping up onto the wall and running across it quickly. His aim never faltered, and pushing himself away from the wall, he slowly sank down through the air as he shot. Pulling Rebellion from his back as soon as he'd gotten over the demon head, Dante brought the blade down quickly with a skillful arc. Cleaving the creature in two, he had no time to waste when he heard that shriek again, the shriek they emitted before they tried to grab someone.

The creature he'd just cut in half fell apart before him when the sound was made, and Dante bent at the knees to duck and he rolled back, managing to stay on his feet in a show of great agility as his body moved to the side along the floor in order to dodge the arms that had just been stretched out for him, swinging over his ducking body now. As he moved with his feet stationary, the floor just beneath his back, he drew Rebellion around and cut off the monsters feet, causing it to fall over with a loud scream of pain. From there, Dante swung back up to stand straight, and he turned, facing a third Quietus before him, grunting to hold onto his sword when the thing grabbed the blade.

Turning his body, Dante mustered his strength a bit and quickly pulled the Quietus toward himself via means of its hands around his blade. As the creature was pulled from the floor, holding onto Rebellion still, the momentum Dante had created caused him to move toward Dante quickly. Dante balled up his fist as the creature came toward him and then swung it at its face, knocking it backward across the room just as quickly as it'd flew toward him to begin with, its fingers sliced off on Rebellion before it's body broke into the wall and fell to the floor.

Dante turned around and noticed the Quietus he'd cut the feet off of had grown them back, and it was standing up once more. "Damn," he muttered, "you know, if _you_ guys are this ugly, I can't _wait_ to see what your master looks like," sarcastically. He pulled out his guns and started shooting at the thing as he worked his way over to it, making sure to keep its hands at bay if it tried to reach for him by aiming at them whenever it lifted them. Managing to get into close proximity, he drew out Rebellion again and then jabbed it forward into the Quietuses torso, then pulled it up, cutting it in half through the shoulder. It's blood flew everywhere, the black globs spattering over the walls and onto Dante before he turned around to take down the rest of them.

One of them managed to grab Dante as he turned around without much of a warning, and it pulled him in. It wrapped its arms around Dante as if it had no bones in them, winding like an anaconda and just as tightly as well. The sudden jerk as it pulled on Dante made him let go of his sword, and he started trying to pry his fingers into the arms that held him to get free, a low growl sounding from the back of his throat at the effort. Another one was lumbering closer to its partner who held Dante, and the two surrounded him, then opened their mouths. Long black tongues slithered out and headed toward Dante's direction, ready to impale him with the sharp tipped appendages.

"Fuck if I kiss on the first date, bitches," he growled through clenched teeth, managing to get Ebony from his coat, Ivory clutched against him too tightly to reach, and he took a shot even as the tongue of the one holding him wrapped its way around his throat to shut off his air supply. He ignored that one for the moment and shot at the other creatures tongue several times, hitting the base near the mouth and eventually cut it off of the creature, giving Dante a moment to grip the tongue wrapped around his throat.

Hearing the creature he'd just deprived of his tongue screaming in pain, he got the feeling that these things were the most sensitive in that appendage and as he gripped his fingers into the tongue that was now tightly wound around his neck, he tried to get Ebony behind and between his head and the monsters that held him captive in order to place the gun against its chin and blow its fucking head off. But he was just too close to the thing to do it. So, with a roll of his icy blue eyes, Dante pulled Ebony back around and turned the gun up beneath his own chin, including beneath the tongue that was keeping him from breathing, strangling his neck so tightly.

Dante pulled the trigger and the bullet moved through the two layers of tongue, and then into Dante's own mouth, up through his skull, and out of the top side of his head. The creature immediately released him, and Dante immediately fell forward, landing on his hands and knees as a stream of his own blood rolled down the front of his throat and the top of his forehead, staining his white hair. Shaking his head as if to regain himself and his bearings, he grabbed the hilt of his sword which lay in front of him now and glanced back, completely pissed off.

"Maybe you didn't notice," he grumbled as he stood back up, placing the tip of Rebellion into the floor to do so, "but I'd rather kill myself than play around with you." He grunted as he pushed himself forward, and with several hard, powerful blows of his sword, he took both of the creatures out. The showing was an angry one to be sure, destroyed several items of furniture and doors in its wake, and once completed, Dante turned to the side and allowed the last one to fall to the ground, literally in pieces, swinging Rebellion around to his back and flinging the blood off of his blade in the process.

"If that makes you fall apart," he shrugged, "then I'm sorry, but I _have_ been known to break hearts before."

Looking away as the demonic bodies disintegrated, Dante scoffed with a slight shake of his head. Then he turned and started heading back to the landing of the steps and then went up the stairs. He was determined to make sure there was absolutely nothing else worth any value in the house to this case he was on before he left, and when he realized that anything significant had already been taken due to the condition of the upstairs which for all intents and purposes matched the downstairs, he decided to just leave. Moving back to the downstairs hallway where the little girls suitcase was, he began filling it up with her clothes again, then pushed it shut, uncaring how messy things were inside of it, as long as they were there for Evelyn to have once again. With that task complete, he stood up and grabbed the handle of it, then he headed to the front door, not forgetting the teddy bear on the way back to his car. A straggling Quietus was following behind him, but for the moment, Dante was ignoring it.

Once he'd slammed the door shut on Cherry's drivers side, he took a long, slow, deep breath and leaned his head back against the cushion of the drivers seat. Looking to the side, he muttered out the words, "Fucking demons." Then he reached out and punched his fingers into the radio, turning it on. He didn't yet have a working CD player in his car, and so he had to settle for that for now. But he'd wait to see what was on before he'd decided to keep it there.

The snow had started falling heavily, and as he flipped through the stations, coming to one of his favorites, he heard the words, "Now it's time for a nonstop block of rock for the next thirty minutes, you're listening to WGRM 97.7," and then "The Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin started playing.

"Hell yeah," Dante smirked as he started bobbing his head to the music, and putting his car into drive, he punched his foot into the gas pedal hard. The tires spewed up snow and mud in their wake, and as he pulled the car away from the area it'd been parked in, he managed to turn a 180 on the road, ramming the rear end of Cherry into the single straggling Quietus as it mindlessly tried to make its way toward him, killing it finally.

Hopefully, the journal he'd decided to pick up would have some pertinent information in it.


	7. Phantoms

_Author's Note: I realized after I put this chapter up that some things needed editting that I'd missed to begin with x.x! But they've all been fixed now!!_

_Chapter 6 - Phantoms_

As the snow had started picking up outside, Evelyn had fallen asleep again. She'd been sitting on the edge of the bed, watching the flakes outside falling from the viewpoint of the window, and once she'd fallen asleep, Regan pushed herself up slowly so she could move her. Moving toward the little girl, she pulled Evelyn slowly up to the pillows. She knew Doc had told her to be on bed rest, but she really couldn't sleep anymore, she'd slept enough, and felt that just a little moving around was in order so she could at least test her limits and use the bathroom.

Turning to the window, Regan went to look outside, and her green eyes slanted slightly with a solemn expression painted upon her face. Why had it been snowing so much lately? It was only late September after all, but maybe they were just in for a bad winter. Not that Regan minded it, she really loved the snow, but she also wanted there to be a longer fall season so they could pick up more business for the autumn pack rides, since the leaves in the forests surrounding the river were one of the bigger tourist attractions around the area, especially for photographers.

But right now, she had better things to worry about besides her own financial situations. Her green eyes turned, spied the young girl sleeping on her bed, and she noted to herself that that was one of them. Who was this Evelyn kid, and why had demons been chasing her? Without answers to that question, Regan had, of course, felt uneasy. She'd been in the dark all evening long, and she was starting to get tired of it. She looked over at the clock next to the bed and noticed it was around one in the morning. She sighed, turned her head back to the window, and then shut the curtains without another thought, tentatively reaching up to touch the butterfly on her forehead that Doc had put there earlier when she'd been asleep.

Things were still spinning to her a bit because of her dizziness, but she was managing, wondering though if it actually came from the wound on her head or the drugs she'd been given. With a grumble, she slowly turned to the door, thinking to go to the bathroom and relieve herself, then get a cup of hot chocolate with some marshmellows in it. Maybe she'd make some extra and bring it up for Evelyn if the little girl woke up and wanted some.

Ten minutes passed and Regan had yet to leave the bathroom. She'd decided to take a nearly scalding hot bath and when she got out, her skin bright pink from the warmth of the water, she wiped her hand across the mirror to get the steam off of it and then looked at herself. The wound on her forehead wasn't very big, but it was deep, and the areas surrounding it were black and purple. Regan folded the towel she held around her hands and then reached up, gently dabbing at it so that it would dry a bit, and she cringed slightly when even that hurt her slightly, "Son of a bitch," she whispered, sighing out a soft breath.

But considering the events of the day, she knew it was a wonder her entire body wasn't black and blue, though she knew she had several bruises on her back from being knocked around so much. Ignoring the thought for the moment however, she got dressed again in a white t shirt and a pair of warm cotton pants that were also white with blue vertical stripes on them, and she slipped her feet into some bedroom slippers before leaving the bathroom to go get her hot chocolate.

The entire time she did all of this, she kept questioning what Dante had told her earlier, kept wondering about his entire explanation of demons. Could it be real, or should she even attempt to trust the man? True, all of the things he could do apparently told her that he was telling the complete and honest truth, but somehow, she still didn't want to believe him. Believe that demons existed? That people could be half human, half demon? Regan guessed it would just take her a long time to get used to the idea.

The bathroom door opened, allowing light into the hallway for just a moment before Regan flipped it out, and then she moved from the door and shut it behind her. The place had been quiet all evening from what she could tell, and in those few moments after she'd left the bathroom, she wondered where the hell Dante was. Maybe he'd found something and that's why he'd been gone for so long, or then again, maybe he was lost, she considered, thinking of his guidance help. Evelyn couldn't have been more than four years old after all, and there was no telling where she'd led him to.

Making it to the steps, Regan narrowed her brows when she heard someone slamming the front door to the lodge below and coming toward the bottom landing. Seeing him, she lifted her brows, "Jack? What's all the fuss about?"

Jack looked up when he saw Regan standing there, and told her, "There's some guys sneaking around the place." He started moving up the steps and as he got closer, Regan could see that his head was bleeding. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened, but before she could say anything, he told her, "I don't know where they went, but they're all wearing these cloaks and hoods, carrying jagged swords. One of them hit me and when I snapped outta my stupor, he was gone."

Regan's eyes remained wide. _Oh no_, she thought, _they'd come back_. "Oh God, Evelyn," she whispered out, turning to go see if the little girl was alright.

Jack grabbed her arm before she could leave and he asked her, "What? What's going on, Regan?"

Regan just shook her head in response to Jack's question, knowing that now wasn't the time to explain it to him, "I don't know, but that little girl needs to be protected."

Simply nodding slowly, trusting Regan completely, Jack let go of her arm and told her, "Haul up in your office, I'm gonna call the cops."

Regan nodded, deciding that was the best choice of action at this point. Before Jack could go back downstairs though, she told him, "Just, whatever you do, if you see one of them, don't let them see you, okay? I don't know what they'll do to you, but I'll explain it later, I promise." With that, she moved as fast as her aching body would let her back to her bedroom, Jack watching her the entire way to make sure she didn't fall in her weakened state. While he'd been confused by her words, he decided that now wasn't the time, and he should just listen to her. Then he turned and ran back down the stairs to use the phone at the front desk.

Making it to his destination, Jack bent down and grabbed the phone, pulling it up before lifting the receiver to his ear, then he put his hand on the hanger. He hit the thing several times when he didn't get a dial tone and urged the thing aloud, "Come on, _come on_ you piece of shit!" Then he groaned and slammed it down. "Fuck, storm must've knocked down a line somewhere," he muttered as a wisp of wind outside blew past the building and made an eery rasping sound.

Jack decided then to move to the front door slowly and take a look outside, see if he could find anything going on by peering from the front door. As his blue eyes scanned the grounds just outside of the lodge, he sighed in relief to see Dante's car pulling up in the slight distance, thinking the guy could probably help out with what the hell was going on. Reaching down to the doorknob to turn it and then open the door, he didn't notice a figure coming up behind him, but he did feel the sting of pain as he was hit on the head for a second time and then, as he went unconscious, grabbed and pulled away from the door.

Upstairs, Regan had awoken Evelyn and taken her to her office, finding out immediately just as Jack had that the phones weren't working currently. After that, Regan told Evelyn to go sit in the corner, and then she went to her file cabinet and started pushing it in front of the door, looking back for anything else that she could move to barricade them both inside. There was a chair, so she grabbed it and set it with the back up under the knob, then she stepped away and looked at the walls. Evelyn had also done that, noticing Regan's massive collection of guns in the room, probably why she'd chosen to haul up here, and Regan started pulling them down and she opened the bottom drawer of her file cabinet with a key, then pulled out the ammunition she had in there to load her weapons with.

Having seen Dante fighting one of those hooded things that Jack had said he'd just seen wandering around the ranch earlier, and having learned that they were demons, Regan took no chances. Dante had gone after the damned things with two guns and a sword, and his confession to her earlier of being half demon only reinsured her belief that he made everything he'd done look _much_ easier than it actually had been. With that knowledge in her mind, she loaded every single gun she had a clip or some bullets for and set them out on her desk in front of the window, then grabbed the two with the most ammo and power and moved over in front of Evelyn on the floor. Regan got down onto her knees, shoving her dizziness aside and she reached out with a gentle smile to the little girls face and rubbed her cheek, "Hey Evelyn, don't worry, I'm not going to let them come back and get you."

Evelyn already knew they were back, Regan _had_ to tell her, after all, what was she supposed to say, that Santa Clause was coming early so Regan wanted to hide from him in her office and load all of her guns incase the bastard decided to walk in? Somehow she didn't think that would be too believable, and as she told Evelyn that, the little girl nodded her head as if she completely trusted Regan to stand by her word, sucking her thumb into her mouth nervously.

Regan turned then to face the little girl, and she added, "Just stay behind me sweety, until Jack comes up here, okay?" Getting the little girls nod of agreement, Regan turned back to face the door again. She sighed inwardly, knowing Jack had no idea what was going on, and that she'd have to explain everything to him whenever she got the chance to. After all, he probably just thought that these guys running around were nothing more than hoodlums trying to cause problems. He didn't realize they were all demons and much more powerful than humans. She had to question herself in that moment as well; why hadn't she just told Jack to come along with her and stay in her office? But then again, Jack wasn't a guy who liked to hide, and if he _had_ have gone in there with them, who would have called the police? Hopefully the phone downstairs actually _was_ working.

Regan continued to sit there, regretting all of her fast movements in the moment, because now she was aching slightly, and she wondered how much longer her last dose of medicine was going to last before her head started really throbbing and pounding. It was already doing that, telling her she needed to go lay down, but she'd be damned if she did anything of the sort. Instead, she continued to sit, to wait, to listen to the wind outside blowing across the windows, making those awful sounds they were sometimes known for. With the way the situation was going, Regan wished the wind would shut its mouth for a few minutes.

Time went on, and silence besides the howling wind played. Where _was_ he, Regan asked herself. She didn't care who 'he' referred to either, Jack, Dante, even Doc, either one of them would do right now. Her guns remained fixed on the door in her hands, and Regan could still feel Evelyn standing behind her back, ready to duck at the slightest movement. The situation became tense and full of anticipation, and Regan took a deep breath in order to calm her raging thoughts and feelings in that moment. She needed a clear head in order to be able to think things through, but even still, she wasn't used to dealing with this, not at all.

Footsteps were heard then. They were heavy and slow, and because of that, Regan could tell that they weren't friendly. If they'd been friendly, unless someone was sneaking down the hallway in which case they wouldn't be stepping so heavily, then they would have probably been walking at either a much more normal rate of pace or a much quicker one, depending on the situation outside of the room. As Regan had that thought, she looked down and spied a shadow looming just outside of the door below the crack and coming to a stop. When that moment came, Regan felt her heartbeat increase, and a slight bit of sweat break out on her forehead despite how cold it was outside. She hoped to god one of those things hadn't just found them.

"Regan, I'm scared," she heard a soft whisper coming from behind her.

Nodding slightly, Regan parted her lips, taking a deep breath, and she admitted in a soft whisper, "Me too." She hated admitting something like that to the child, but she really couldn't comfort her in that moment. The child had already seen too many horrors, and more than likely wouldn't believe some lie or weak attempt at reassurance by saying everything would be okay because of it. Even still, Regan had a fierce maternal instinct, she'd always taken to kids very well, and she'd be damned if she let anything happen to this one. She just wouldn't lie to her, that was all, not in this case.

The doorknob started to turn, but became stuck on the back of the chair that Regan had placed against it. Knowing what was probably coming, Regan whispered to Evelyn again, "Cover your ears, sweety," thinking the guns might make her ears ring, "and when I say so, I want you to run and hide in the closet down the hallway, I'll be right behind you, okay?"

"Okay," Evelyn whispered back, then she covered her ears like Regan had asked her to, and watched the door start shaking as the being on the other side of it tried to push it in.

Suddenly, the shaking stopped. Everything went quiet, and after a moment of silence, the top of the door suddenly busted in without warning as a fist was shoved through it. Regan held her fire, squinting a bit at the pieces of wood flew through the air incase any of it came her way, and then she looked back. The arm that had busted through the door reached down and jerked the chair out of the way.

_Not yet_.

It grabbed the handle of the door and turned it.

_Wait for it_.

The door violently began opening as the file cabinet was shoved out of the way and then the hooded figure walked into the room.

_Smile you son of a bitch_.

Regan began pulling the triggers with the guns aimed at his head, one after the other, and she stood up slowly, pushing herself up against the wall on her legs, while she did so. The bullets whizzed through the air, blowing holes into the demons head, even though it continued to step toward her. Somehow, it seemed to keep closing its own wounds back up, but the more that hit, the harder it was to do so, and it finally reeled back when Regan realized she only had two shots left in the gun. Breathing heavily because of how long it'd taken to simply get the demon to reel back like that, she almost forgot to tell Evelyn to run, and she yelled, "_Now_, Evelyn!"

Turning at the same time that Evelyn went running to the door and passed the currently reeling demon quickly, Regan grabbed two more guns from her desk and turned around to start shooting once again. She spotted Evelyn disappearing from sight around the corner, giving her a slight bit of relief. But the demon had stood up straight again, about seven feet away from her near the door, and she couldn't concentrate on anything else. She'd have to wait for it to reel back again before she could make it out of there herself.

She only hoped she'd done the right thing by having told Evelyn to run.

The demon continued toward her, apparently having not noticed the little girl was gone now, either that, or he just didn't care, and that only told Regan there may be more of them around somewhere else to grab her. Regan started backing away as the towering figure slowly neared her, hoping to god he stumbled before she ran out of bullets so that she'd have a chance. But instead, she pulled the triggers again and just heard a click. Empty.

Having backed into the corner without a choice, Regan glanced at her guns for a split second and saw that they were now out of reach, beyond the demon bearing in on her. She took a deep breath, then threw one of her empty weapons at the demons head just as it reached out for her throat at a sudden, tremendous pace and jerked her toward itself. Regan dropped the other gun with a loud grunt and grabbed the large wrist, felt her feet leaving the floor as she was lifted up. Then she saw the demons other hand raising, the jagged blade it held looming at her threateningly. Regan's eyes went wide as she watched it, felt her body going cold with fear, then looked back at the face of the demon which, with the holes she'd blown in the masks they usually wore, could see a black skinned, skeletal face beneath it, no eyes, and a centipede slithering through its one exposed eye socket, maggots and spiders in other places, creating a grotesque visage of its master, whether or not Regan realized it in that moment.

The demon brought its arm down to take Regan's life, the blade being swung swiftly with a slice of air, when its arm suddenly stopped, the blade coming to a halt only a few mere inches from her throat. Regan had squeezed her eyes shut, her face going a bit purple from the lack of air as she dangled from the demons arm, and as it stopped, she slowly let her green eyes open back up.

Why wasn't it moving? Killing her? She couldn't only wonder that, bringing her green eyes to its face, desiring air more and more as each second passed. But before she could figure anything out, the demon stumbled a slight bit as a baseball bat was brought down to its back with the angrily yelled words, "Let her go, faggot!"

Jack drew the bat back quickly, having just woken up from being knocked unconscious a few moments before, and he swung the bat once again, hitting the demon a second time. It let go of Regan after that, and while Jack had a gun on him, he hadn't shot at the thing for fear of hitting Regan accidentally. Once it's grip loosened, Regan fell to the floor coughing and hacking, trying to crawl away, and she told Jack, "My guns are loaded, use them!" She didn't know he had his own.

Jack looked at her desk, then he turned and grabbed one of them just as the demon he'd hit swiped it's blade around quickly, dragging the sharp edge through his arm, slicing his flesh open. "Fuck!," Jack yelled at the searing pain in his arm, falling back onto the desk, and as the demon came at him, he kicked his leg up into its chest and pushed at it as hard as he could. "Get the fuck out of here, Regan! Go find that kid!" He managed to send the demon stumbling backwards despite its heavy size, stronger than Regan was and completely pissed off about having been hit on the head twice that night.

Regan had been working her way back to her feet by the door when Jack told her that, and she was torn between helping him and going after Evelyn, but she knew she didn't have a choice. Jack could take care of himself, and Evelyn couldn't except to run and hide, and Regan didn't want to lose track of her like that. So she ignored her pains the best she could and ran off down the hallway to the closet where she'd told Evelyn to go hide before.

As Jack pushed the demon off of him and Regan ran from the room, he pulled up his own gun and one of Regan's from the desk behind him, then started shooting at the damned thing viciously, the light from the flashes of gunshots reflecting off his stubble lined face and wavy black hair as he yelled, "Who wants swiss cheese?!"

But the demon wasn't going down very easily, and it turned again, pulling its blade across Jack's abdomen with a string strike. Blood began to flow down his already ripped button up shirt, and grunting as he turned to the side with the blow, Jack cringed, his fire stopping for the moment. But being in the fight mode he was now, he knew he couldn't give this asshole an inch, so he pushed himself forward as hard as he fucking could and rammed his shoulder into the demons chest to knock the damned thing over and hopefully out of his way.

His tackle got the demon back several feet, but only until he felt the piercing pain of a blade being stabbed down into him, through his shoulder. Jack immediately fell to the floor, unable to move for several moments now, yelling with the ripping pain of the blade being jerked out of his shoulder again once he'd fallen. Taking deep, heavy breaths, Jack pushed himself over to lay on his back and immediately grunted as a heavy booted foot was placed on his stomach hard to keep him where he was. He looked up as the demon stood over him, its back facing the door now, and with both hands, he held up his blade to stab it down into Jack's chest. The tip of the jagged sword glinted, and Jack sneered, "Fuck you, what the fuck are you waiting for!? Do it you limp dicked pussy!"

But the demon didn't stab him, and instead made a sickening sound that was far from human. Jack could suddenly see the tip of a silver blade protruding through its chest as it stood there, ready to impale him. Then the blade was jerked up and through the demons body hard and quickly, causing its black blood to spill everywhere, even onto Jack, who didn't seem to care and only watched as the now dead demon fell to the side limply revealing Dante slinging the now blood covered Rebellion around and up onto his shoulder, "Did ya miss me?" Dante asked coyly.

Jack, despite the pain he was feeling, smirked up at the white haired hardass, and he shook his head slowly, "If you were a woman, I'd probably kiss ya."

"Good thing I'm not," Dante told him with a grin, then reached down to help Jack stand back up, slapping their hands together. Pulling the man up, Jack leaned against the door, and Dante said, "You should stay in here, cowboy, you don't look too good."

"Maybe," Jack agreed with him softly, "go find Regan and that kid, don't worry about me, I've done worse to myself shaving," he smirked.

"That's fucked up, Jack," Dante told him with an amused shake of his white head of hair, then adding as he moved away, "If I see Doc, I'll let him know where ya are." Dante then moved down the hallway, and Jack limped away from the door slowly to go find somewhere that he could take care of himself, muttering curses the entire time.

--

Evelyn had run down the hallway and toward the closet Regan had told her too when she'd come to a sudden stop, her feet sliding across the floor as she did so, making her fall onto her butt. Another of those hooded demons had turned the corner, coming toward her now, and it reached out its hand. Gasping, Evelyn pushed herself into the opposite direction and starting making her way down the hallway quickly, getting to the stairs once she'd passed the office again, holding onto the rail tightly as she took them as quickly as possible.

Evelyn didn't know if the thing was still right behind her or not, but she didn't want to look back either. Instead, she just ran from the house and into the snowy front yards, her socks becoming soaked and frozen with the snow. Peering ahead of herself, she saw a car parked on the side of the dirt road passing the front of the ranch, and she made her way to it as quickly as her frozen feet would allow her. Pulling the back seat door open to Cherry, she threw herself inside and shut and locked the doors one by one, ducking down once she'd completed that task so that no one would see her before slowly peering over the edge and out of the window. She was breathing heavily now, but thankfully, to her four year old mind, she didn't see anyone about.

In those quiet moments, an odd undulation of smoke seemed to form in the air. Slowly wafting about, it finally took the shape of a man in a black robe with long black hair, his back facing the car, and he looked around the area, tilting his head to the side. Evelyn gasped and ducked beneath the door again so that if he turned around he wouldn't see her.

Turning around completely, Arias looked over the car parked out front, and he lifted his brows, stepping toward it. "Nice," he commented judgementally, "definitely Dante's. Figures he'd have something so damned flashy. What is it with kids nowadays." He stepped up to the side of the car and looked it over, "Leather bucket seats, probably a v8 engine," he looked into the back, saw a pair of eyes coming over the edge and then ducking back down quickly, "and a kid in the backseat." He did a double take over that and then shivered. Arias seriously loathed kids almost as much as he loathed his own father. "So that's where she went to," he muttered. "Alas my little youth, I'm not the one you need to worry about," he added dryly, then turned back to the lodge.

Stepping forward, Arias listened quietly to the heavily falling snow, and then he heard a yell. "Ah, chaos and mayhem. I must be in the right place." At about that same moment, the front doors to the lodge swung open hard and Regan came running through the doors, looking back and forth. She called the name Evelyn, and then went down the steps, stopping on the bottom one suddenly when she saw the tall, slender figure dressed in black standing amongst the falling snow. Looking him over, narrowing her brows, she wondered who the hell he was. _Not another one_, she hoped desperately.

But he seemed to know her, "Regan," he smiled, looked her over. One of his slender brows raised, "Nice pajama's."

Regan looked down at her white and blue sleep wear, then glanced back at the man, "Who the hell are you?"

"The hell," he started, turning to look back at the car, "would be an appropriate term to use in this situation, especially to dear, sweet Evelyn back there." Arias glanced back at the lovely young woman again, and lifted his brows, "She's hiding in the car, completely fine, though I'd gather a bit frightened and with good reason."

Regan narrowed her brows angrily at the person before her, "You're with those hooded things, aren't you? Well, you might as well pack up and leave, you're _not_ getting her!"

Arias said nothing, moved to the side and held his hand out to let Regan pass as he knew she wanted to. She stared at him quietly for a moment, then she took off toward the car to get the little girl. As she passed Arias, he spoke to her again urgently, "Wait, wait, I forgot something."

He sounded completely earnest, and the mere sound of his voice alone despite the way he'd stated his request of her caused her to spin around if for nothing more than defense alone. But as soon as she did, and came to face him, she felt a piercing pain streaking up through her stomach. Her lips parted with the choked groan she'd made at the initial pain, Arias standing right in front of her now as her head jerked forth beside of his arm.

Arias held the hilt of the blade he had wedged into Regan's stomach without a single look of remorse or caring on his face, didn't seem to mind that the force of the dagger being thrust into her body had caused her to fall somewhat against him. He glanced down and to the side at the top of her head, reaching up to place his hand on it almost comfortingly. "I forgot a gift I have to give you." At the words, he pulled the blade out and then stabbed it into her again for good measure. Regan grunted a second time, her pupils contracting in her eyes. To her, words could not describe that type of pain as it was worse than she'd ever felt before, even when she'd had a horse fall on her and break her arm when she was younger. Arias let go of the blade and she took it herself in her own hands. The power in her legs began draining as she stumbled back away from him and she could no longer stand on her own two frozen feet as the snow came down and became trapped in her blood red hair.

Evelyn was screaming from the car behind them, scared to death over what she'd just seen. Arias watched Regan falling to her knees, then over onto her side in a slump. "Hmpf," he drew out pointedly, then turned around and looked up to see Dante standing on the steps. A slight smile lit his lips. "I do believe that once again, you're a bit too late, Dante."

Dante looked down at the snow, saw Regan laying there, the blood she was bleeding staining the white frost she lay in. There was no steam being expelled from her mouth or nose, telling Dante that she was probably already dead. Questions began playing through his head in that moment, why Regan, what was Arias up to, what did he or his father truly want, and along with those questions came a good surge of anger. Dante wasn't one to take any kind of defeat lightly, and he pulled his weapon off of his back. "And I do believe I'm about to kick your ass, Arias," he told the demon before he took off toward him, swinging his blade around, which met another one that was completely black, named Venom.

Arias held his own sword up against Rebellion with both hands. The swords crossed between the two enemies, their faces in close proximity, Arias sighed, "I'm not entirely sure you want to do this right now, after all, you've still got other trash to clean up, don't you?" He motioned to the two large demons in cloaks and hoods coming up on either side of him. "Phantoms aren't completely useless, and they're persistent."

Dante continued to glare at Arias as if he knew this wasn't over yet. No way in hell he was just going to let Arias get away with this. "Next time then, we'll tango."

Arias just smirked, "It's a date," he told Dante sarcastically, then disappeared in a puff of black smoke as Dante turned around and knocked one of the jagged blades of the monsters to the side that had been swung in attack at him, followed by jabbing Rebellion at the other one in a stinger before knocking it through the air with his foot, sending the demon careening into the wall of the lodge behind it. The first Phantom as they were apparently called had come back, attacking Dante in quick succession with his own blade, and Dante returned all of hells fury to him, apparently pissed a great deal at these assholes.

As the fighting continued, Dante managed to get in several good hits on the two Phantoms swiping their swords at him, talking his shit to them the entire time, and he turned Rebellion to his back to stop one blade, then aimed ahead of himself with Ivory and took several shots before whipping Rebellion around hard and through the air by his head in an arch, cutting the same Phantom's throat while it reeled from the blast of the powerful gun.

As soon as he'd managed to do that, he felt a powerful burst of energy ramming into his back from the Phantom behind him, surging over his body in black waves, which caused him to fly forward and through the snow, leaving a trail in his wake. Shaking his head as he came to a stop, Dante heard a loud gunshot behind him, and he turned to look back quickly, seeing Jack wielding a sawed off shotgun which he cocked again as he stepped closer, having apparently bandaged himself up before he'd come out there, and he pulled the trigger again. The Phantom who'd just thrown Dante squealed, near death now, and fell to its knees.

As this happened, the sword the Phantom held began to glow black slightly. This one seemed to be a bit bigger than the other Phantoms, and had a differing sword. He was the same one on horseback which had initially attacked Regan and told her to hand over Evelyn. The long sword it held which had a black hilt and a silver blade seemed to be coming into use now, and though Dante wasn't sure what that use was, he couldn't wait to find out, he thought dryly.

Jack didn't know about the second Phantom though, who'd held his hand up, pointing it in Jack's direction, and a burst of black energy built, the same kind that had just hit Dante. Turning, Dante yelled, "Jack, duck!" and he slung Rebellion as hard as he could, causing the blade to go flying at the Phantom until its tip wedged into its torso, then through its spine, and knocked it back toward the wall of the lodge, impaling it. While the blade had done the trick and knocked the Phantom away from Jack, pinning its target to the wall, the Phantom had still managed to get his blast completely charged, but the aim was a bit off. Jack had ducked and the energy had hit him in the side instead of full on, which knocked Jack off of his feet and across the yard, into the snow himself. He didn't get back up nor move, however, blood dripping from his mouth and nose.

At the same time, with the one remaining Phantom left, vortexes began to open again, an effect of his sword coming to use more than likely as it apparently had the ability to summon demons. Instead of Quietuses this time came demons that were shaped like bugs, eight slender legs that were bent in upside down V's with black splotched red bodies and antennas that were moving swiftly about. Groaning, Dante muttered over the new development in the plot, "Where's the Terminix guy when you need him?" Then he pushed himself up.

As the first one landed, it jumped into the air, coming toward Dante who shot at it without even thinking about it, knocking it backwards and away from him. Having not forgotten Pegasus, Dante unstrapped the boomerang from his back and turned, throwing the silver weapon through the air at the other spiders which had formed, spinning rapidly and cutting them down like butter in succession, giving Dante the chance he needed to grab Rebellion again.

Evelyn continuously watched the fighting from the car door, and she suddenly screamed when one of the spiders landed on the side of Cherry, covering the window she'd been looking from. It's bottom side opened up like a mouth with razor sharp teeth that started snapping at her. Realizing it couldn't get into the car, Evelyn's brows narrowed angrily at the spider, and she crawled up into the front seat and started laying in on the horn, which actually seemed to startle the spider into jumping away.

Hearing his car horn, Dante looked up to see Evelyn beeping it at a spider that had been bothering her, and he caught Pegasus again as it came back to him before something landed on his back. Turning, he was then hit in the face by the web a spider had just spit onto him, and he cut away at it with Pegasus before he turned around and sliced down another spider with the same weapon. But the webbing still on his body was making it a bit difficult to move. This was getting ridiculous. "Heh, sticky situation." The comment made him roll his blue eyes upwards.

The spider that had spit the web onto him jumped off of the wall and onto Dante's back when he'd turned around to swipe at the one attacking him, and it tried to clamp its legs around his torso and tear into him with its teeth from behind. Grunting, Dante grabbed its leg and jerked it off, throwing the appendage to the side before grabbing the next one, which made the creature let him go. They seemed to be easy enough to take out, but there was a good number of them, which made things a bit more difficult. Not that he couldn't handle the situation.

The final Phantom had pushed itself back up, completely hood less now, its skull leering a constant grin at whomever it peered toward, and pulling its sword up, it turned to face Dante, ready to finish this off. Dante, pulling the rest of the webbing from his body, turned to face off with the demon for a final showdown, pulling Rebellion from his back again and lifting the sword. "Hope you brought a spare body, cause you're gonna need one when I'm done with you."

A bright light flashed from behind them all almost as soon as he'd said that. It caused Dante to become blinded for a moment, and the shock of it even knocked the Phantom forward a bit. The origination of the light which was white in color seemed to be coming from where Regan lay, and as it started dying down, her body began to shift in form, sparking as it did so, her fingers becoming clawed, her skin turning a dark blue that almost looked black, her body seeming to create a set of clothing all for itself as her glowing red eyes suddenly opened.

She didn't even push herself up, instead, simply moved at lightening speed toward the demon with a shrill cry that sounded like something a banshee would make, instilling fear into the spider demons around them which became still. A trail of red and dark blue was left in her wake and she turned low against the ground and knocked the Phantoms feet from under him, causing him to go spiraling into the air. As he did, she turned and grabbed his ankle tightly, slinging him around and into a set of spiders, destroying them before she let go. The Phantom went flying in Dante's direction, and Dante grinned, unknowing what the hell was going on with Regan, but knowing opportunity when it knocked.

Hence his nicely timed phrase, "Knock, knock."

As the Phantom had nearly reached him, Dante ducked and thrust his legs up as he jumped from the ground, crashing into the Phantom, both of them going flying into the air. Rebellion pierced the demons torso before it was pulled out, then swiped at his body again and again with angrily hard strikes. They went spinning out of control seemingly, rotating around one another, before Dante, now above the demon in the sky, turned and struck the Phantom with Rebellion so hard that his body went flying back to the Earth and landed in the snow, blowing the white material up into the air, forming a crater.

The Phantoms sword spun through the air after it did and went down, right into its owners torso as the body started dissolving into nothing but a mass of bugs and blood. Dante landed just a moment later as if he were on a large pillow, and looked over at the carnage, then in Regan's direction.

The now quiet area, aside from the blowing wind and snow, gave a resolution to the scene, and Dante watched the woman whose body reverted back to normal before she fell over again and passed out, the dagger still dug into her stomach. Before she could completely fall over, however, Dante had caught up to her and put his arm out to catch her. "Regan," he spoke to get her attention, but he didn't get a response. Still, she was breathing, so he turned her in his arms and then grabbed the blade that was wedged in her torso, pulling it out. Opening the shirt she wore via the newly made slice in it, he watched the cut beneath it slowly closing up as if she might've been a half demon like himself, if not a whole demon.

Before he could have any thoughts on what he'd just seen though, he heard a car door slamming shut and looked up to see Evelyn running toward them. She slid to a stop, having apparently found her clothing in the car as she was wearing boots and a coat now, and she looked at Jack when she heard him groaning. Evelyn glanced at Dante, and Dante thought for just a moment. Jack was near death, Regan had just been killed and then gone devil trigger, and the newly made attack on the ranch had been the most powerful yet.

No matter what happened in the future, Dante knew this shit wasn't going to get any easier, and that his decision to come here had been well founded. Pushing himself up, he told Evelyn to go open the door, and started the task of getting both unconscious people into the lodge. But with his suspicions, he decided to get Jack inside first, as he was apparently much worse off than Regan was at the moment.

No, Regan's true struggle would come whenever she woke up.

Outside once again a short while later after getting a few things taken care of, Dante moved toward the crater in the snow where the blade rested, jutting up from the ground like something out of The Sword in the Stone almost. Grabbing the hilt, he lifted the sword up and looked it over. It had a relatively plain design, the guard being silver and nicely etched, shaped like two seven's facing each other, spikes on the bent tips like a bats or a demons wings, and on the very edge of the black hilt was a silver demons face.

"It's called Demon Caller," came the voice of Arias, and Dante only turned his head slightly when he heard the comment, uncaring to face the bastard completely. "I think however that you may find it useless considering your current arsenal, that is, unless, you have some slithering of Democrities blood flowing through your veins that would allow you to summon from his army."

Dante grumbled and turned around finally, still holding the sword in his hand, "Then why don't _you_ take it?"

Arias scoffed, "I have a better weapon, and besides, I believe Regan will be needing something to defend herself with. Give it to her. After all, she has his blood in her now."

"What did you do to her?"

"Oh," Arias sighed, turning a slight bit and looking across the ranch as if to take in the snowy scenery. "I'm sure you'll find that out in time yourself. After all, you're a Sparda, and Sparda was known for his wisdom. Stands to reason you've got some of that kicking around somewhere in your head."

As Arias started walking away, Dante lifted the weapon he held, his head tilted to the side in annoyance, and started, "Now you're just gonna leave? You're not even going to try and get Evelyn?"

"Well, I hate children," Arias stopped and glanced back at him, smirking a slight bit, "you can babysit her for a while. But I do owe you a fulfillment of a promise made earlier. Deceitful as I may be, I'll finish my story, that is, if you're willing to hear more of Vergil."

Dante had started heading back out of the crater, and he looked over at Arias, standing a good five feet away from him. He held up his hand, "It better be good."

"Oh, it's tremendously pleasing. Why," Arias turned slightly, "ever since your brother arrived in hell, he's been causing a gigantic distraction. We're rejoicing, and parties are being thrown. Too bad I'm stuck in this place, not that I'm a partier myself. But," he glanced his black eyes back at Dante as his form began to slowly shimmer into smoke and waft away from his feet up, "his distraction has allowed many a demon to get a greater foothold where before they had none. This would include my father. So perhaps now, you can thank your brother for all of your increasing business I foresee coming to you in the future. With that said, I bid you adieu, Dante, and wish Vergil luck with all of the minions he's been facing, as I fear what could be awaiting him should he fail to emerge victorious."

Arias disappeared. Dante sighed a deep breath, then shrugged his shoulders in indifference. The only thing he could think was that Vergil had chosen his own path, and whatever awaited him, if Arias was, in fact, telling the truth, would be his to deal with, and not Dante's problem.

Still, Dante couldn't help but hope he defeated his enemies.


	8. Snow Date

_Chapter 7 - Snow Date_

The entire Ranch had gone into a slight fit. Because of the damages done to parts of it, everyone had been asking questions, but most of the questions had been left unanswered. But the biggest question of all to most of the people had been what happened to Jack, and was Regan okay? But the only person who seemed to know anything was Doc, and he wasn't at liberty to say.

Regan woke up at about one o'clock, much later than she usually did, and blissfully forgot, for the first few moments of her waking time, what had happened the night before. The thing that had brought it back to her, oddly enough, was how good she felt, as in physically, she had no aches or pains, and knowing she'd been in an accident of sorts, so to speak, she knew she should've at least been hurting a little.

It all came crashing back to her, the fighting, Jack, the hooded demons, the man in the snow, and finally, the dagger in her gut, twice. She blinked when she had that thought and put her hands on her stomach as she'd sat up from bed with a sudden jolt. She then pulled her shirt up, which had been changed, a black top which looked a bit too big for her instead of the white one she'd been wearing the night before, but instead of paying any attention to it for the moment, she looked at her stomach. There wasn't a dagger in it, there wasn't a mark anywhere in it, much less two marks, and she became confused. What the fucking hell had happened to her!?

Letting her shirt drop back down across her stomach, she heard a soft snore and she looked back. Laying on her bed across from her was Dante, and as he sawed his logs, Regan watched him a bit blankly. What the hell was he doing in here? Just before she could reach out to wake him and get her answers however, she heard a knock at the door, and looking over at it, she wasn't sure whether or not she should answer it or pretend to still be asleep. She wanted to talk to Dante first, and so she decided to just remain quiet until whoever it was went away, going so far as to lay back down where she'd been, before they could peek into the room at her and make sure she was still asleep.

A few moments passed and, not hearing anything else from the door, she sat back up slowly, peering at the door again and waiting. When she was satisfied that no one was there, she turned quickly and started shaking Dante, "Wake up, Dante!"

Groaning, the devil hunter rolled over and grabbed her, pulling her down with him, "Your boyfriend's not coming home 'til eight, just go back to sleep."

"Dante!" She yelled, unable to believe what he'd just said. She slapped his arm harder than she'd meant to, and he cringed in his sleep and let go of her, slowly opening his icy blue eyes as he woke up.

Seeing a streak of red before his eyes as Regan sat up next to him once his arm was pulled away from her, Dante lifted a brow, then yawned loudly. Lifting his brows and shaking his head, he realized he must've dozed off and then glanced up, seeing Regan staring down at him. She looked a bit mussed, hadn't combed her hair and the blood red mass was hanging somewhat wildly around her shoulders and head, and somehow Dante could appreciate the site of that whenever he got a wake up call, much better than he could appreciate Jack's interruption of his sleep the morning before anyway. "Just like my fantasies," he yawned again, "except you're not grinning over the night of hot sex."

"God!," she rolled her eyes, pushing herself around to face him completely. "Would you be serious for once?"

"It's too damned early to be serious, babe, I just woke up. Try again in a few hours."

Regan was glaring daggers at him. She was so mad she could have smacked him, and she'd never felt that kind of anger before, especially not over the way Dante was acting at the moment, which was only annoying her because she felt the situation was much more serious than that. It was scaring her, and with her fear and confusion and anger combined, tears started trailing down her cheeks. Her words of, "I hate you so much," didn't come out at all like she'd wanted them too, being choked up and embarrassed over her tears when she'd reached up to wipe her eyes. She didn't mean that statement completely, but she was pretty damned upset, and his constant lewd comments and jokes were just getting to her at the moment. In order to try and make up for just telling him she hated him, because she felt badly almost as soon as she'd said it, she started again, "I just want to know what happened last night. All I remember is being stabbed. I should be dead now, shouldn't I?"

"Probably," Dante replied, realizing she was, just as he'd thought she'd be, bent out of shape, unknowing the things that had gone on. When he confirmed it, the tears just started trailing harder as well, and he sat up, reaching to her shoulder, saying, "Hey," but he stopped when she pulled away from him in order to try and stay strong even though she was crying so much now.

Having buried her face in her hands, she gasped and sniffled several times with her tears, and Dante sighed out his breath over it. There was a shitload of things Dante could handle easily, but seeing a woman crying wasn't one of them, especially a woman he knew didn't deserve it. "You need to calm down, Regan, nothing's gonna happen to you."

"Because it already has," she got out on a weak, scratchy voice. Turning her face to look at him finally, she sniffled again before she went on, "What happened to me last night, Dante? I'm tired and if I don't get any answers soon, I feel like I'm going to explode."

Groaning, Dante pushed himself up further and reached out to grab her before she could get any further away from him as every time he kept moving she'd scoot to the side some, and he sat her right beside of himself. He blinked when she leaned in and hugged him, seeming to no longer be fighting with him, but knew why she'd done that. She needed the comfort, and while he didn't always consider himself the best option for giving that kind of thing to people, he also knew that he was her only choice. "Okay, okay," he told her, putting his hand on her back, "just calm down, never did like seein' a woman crying."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm just so confused."

"So am I. But as for what happened, there's not an easy way of putting it, not that I'm any damned good at that kind of thing anyway, so here goes." Dante cleared his throat and started relating everything of what had happened last night, both to her and around her, and by the time he was done, Regan had sat back, her eyes still light colored and glistening with the tears she'd been crying, a bit red, and she was listening to every word that he spoke intently.

Seemingly without care to herself, the first question Regan asked was, "Jack's going to be okay, isn't he?" And when she did, she proved something to Dante. She didn't care about herself anymore when she found out how hurt her friend had become, she only cared what had happened to her him. It relieved Dante to a point, as he'd considered what Arias had said, Democrities' blood being in her veins, and he'd questioned whether or not she'd wake up the same person, yet another reason he'd fallen asleep in the same room with her. He didn't want her waking up and going off on a rampage on someone. Without mentioning that to her however, Dante gave her a nod of his head, explaining that Jack's father had been taking care of him, put him in his room with an IV hooked up to him, and when he'd said that, Regan closed her eyes and sighed in relief. "Good," she told him, "I feel better now."

"About being part demon?"

"No," she groaned, "only about him. How is it I'm part demon anyway? Who was the man who stabbed me?"

"Just an asshole with a lot of time on his hands apparently, but it changed you somehow." Dante then narrowed his brows, remembering something. He reached into his trench coat, having slept in his clothing. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out Nathan's journal and handed it to her. "This was in Nathan's house. I've got no damned patience for reading these things, so I figured I'd let you go through it. Besides, I was too damned tired to read it last night anyway after all the shit that went on." Besides, when he'd seen Nathan's hair, he thought they were related somehow, and decided maybe it would be best all around if she were the one to read it, not to mention the fact that, as he figured it, she was probably better at researching those types of things like that anyway, kinda like Lady, which he didn't do well himself. He got bored too easily, and found it a tedious task he'd rather not have to spend the time on.

Regan took the journal slowly and she looked it over, asking Dante, "Do you think it might tell us something about why everything's happening?"

"Probably," Dante sighed, sitting back against the pillows he'd been sleeping on before closing his eyes. He still felt a little bit groggy from just waking up.

Regan looked at him as he did so, at how relaxed he seemed to be, and oddly enough, his casual attitude seemed to help relax _her_ somehow, as if there really _wasn't_ anything to worry about. After all, if her situation was really so dire, wouldn't he be freaking out more? He'd saved her life already, and she knew he wouldn't have ever done that if he didn't give a damn whether she lived or not, so she knew he'd probably be a little bit more upset if something deathly really was wrong with her.

Or at least, she hoped so anyway. _Devil Hunter_, she remembered, and knew she was part one now herself. Did that mean he was going to start distrusting her, treating her like shit? Was there any real way she could tell?

Her green eyes traveled back to his face after she had that thought. Was he going back to sleep? She couldn't tell, but she didn't mind if he did, she was curious about the object she held in her hands now anyway. But she had to ask Dante before she started reading it, "Why did you sleep in here last night?"

"Didn't want you to wake up alone and freak out like you just did," he replied, his eyes still shut, hands folded across his lower chest and upper abdomen.

His answer simply reinsured her belief that he'd wanted her to be okay and that she probably shouldn't be worrying so much right then, also told her that maybe he wasn't just here to mistrust her, however that may be. But then again, he might just not be saying anything about it.

Turning her head, and noticing her shirt again before she went to open the book, she decided to ask as well, "What about this shirt?"

"One of Jack's."

"Please don't tell me _you_ changed my clothes."

"Nope," Dante replied, "Doc did. And yes, he knows everything about what happened. I went to drag his ass out of bed at five in the morning when I finally got you and Jack back into the house."

Regan glanced up at Dante, his eyes still closed, and she suddenly smiled. She couldn't help herself. If anything, she owed Dante all that she had right now, having realized that, even if bad things had happened to her, if it weren't for him, she could be _much_ worse off. Jack could be dead and Evelyn could be gone. So deciding to take her good fortune when she got it, deciding to give him a little more credit than to think he might not trust her anymore, or at least, as far as he knew her anyway, and deciding to push her reeling thoughts of her current state of being to the side, she opened the book to the first page, and then narrowed her brows, "Dante, there's some pages missing. You didn't take them, did you?"

He opened one eye, then rolled it upward in an annoyed fashion. Arias, he thought to himself before muttering, "No, but I think I might know who did. Just read it anyway, could still be something in there."

"Okay," she replied on a soft voice, nearly a whisper, and she began to read through the pages slowly. She was interrupted however when a second knock sounded at her door, and, blinking because it had drawn her out of her concentration, she grabbed Dante's trench coat and shoved the thing back into his pocket, causing him to open his eyes and blink at her. "What?" She asked to the look on his face, "I don't want anything to happen to it."

The comment made him smirk a bit before she turned and said, "Come in."

The door swung to when she spoke those words, and Doc appeared along with Evelyn, who ran into the room and jumped onto the bed, grabbing and hugging Regan tightly. Regan forced a smile for the little girls sakes, not feeling much like doing it even though Evelyn was alright and she was glad for it. She just had too much on her mind, and she wanted to get rid of it, felt she'd have to first before she could actually enjoy anything else at all. Otherwise she was just going to be forcing smiles as she was now.

Doc smiled as he walked over to them, nodding his head respectfully at Dante, and then told Regan, "Hope you're feeling okay."

"Yeah, I'm okay," she lied, "just tired and confused is all."

"Well, I can completely understand if what Dante told me is true. Wanted to come by and check up on you though, and Evelyn wanted to see you. I promised her I'd take her out to see the ponies when we're done here. After all, I'd think you'd need your rest if for nothing more than your sanity alone," he gave her a smile, hoping to lighten her mood some.

"Thanks, Doc," Regan forced another smile at him, "I'm sure she'll like that, and I probably will end up staying here for just a little while longer."

Evelyn turned her blue eyes up to Regan, "I've never seen a pony before." Her voice was a quiet whisper as all of her spoken words seemed to be, and she added, "I'm glad you're okay."

Regan didn't have to force her smile that time. She leaned her forehead down against Evelyn's and told her, "Yep, I'm peachy keen. What about you?" She was just glad the child still cared about her, as she'd come to like Evelyn a lot since she'd been here, even though all she seemed to see of the girl was her when she was either scared, upset, running, or worried. Regan wanted to see more of her when she was happy, not sad.

Evelyn glanced at Dante, who still had his eyes shut, then back at Regan again, "Dante showed me his guns last night."

With a snort, looked at Dante who seemed to be ignoring them, and she told Evelyn, "Well, as long as he didn't let you play with them, you know."

"Pfft," they heard from Dante, "I'm not _that_ damned dumb."

Doc chuckled over the comment, then he held out his hand, "Come on, sweety, let's go see the ponies and let Regan rest a little more. That includes you, Dante. She's had a difficult time the past few days and I'm still her doctor. So I want you out of here as soon as the two of you have finished chatting."

"Yeah, I know, I'll leave her alone in a second."

"Okay," Doc replied, taking Evelyn's hand and leading her to the door of the room. "We'll see you later."

"See ya," Regan responded.

"Bye," Evelyn waved out to them cutely, then left the room with Doc.

Once they were gone, Regan looked down, and didn't notice that Dante had opened his eyes and looked at her. Watching her quietly, he wondered to himself where they'd go next, what would happen between them, and he reached into his pocket again and handed her the journal once more, putting it in front of her downward tilted face. She took it without a word, and Dante considered telling her something meaningful in that moment, but somehow, he found himself holding back. He just wanted to stare at her for the time being, while he had the chance to.

Now that he really thought about it, she _was_ damned pretty. If things were a bit different, he might have actually considered seriously pursuing her, whatever the end might've brought to them both. With that thought running through his head, he also knew that had the situation currently been different, he would have thrown out some crass remark, and hell, he still might, but for the moment, while she was quiet and distracted, he just decided to let her read to herself as she seemed to be so intent on doing so he could play to his more superficial side and look her over.

Spitfire, that's what she was. And a redheaded temper to boot. He always did like his women colorful, the timid ones were fun to make blush though, so he guessed it didn't really matter to him, if she was a female, he'd probably find something to at least like about her no matter what her personality entailed. Regan seemed to have a lot of qualities he liked so far though, so he could only honestly wonder what he'd find out about her next.

He considered what she'd been through thus far and how she'd reacted to it, being as new to these types of things as she was. Suddenly, he kind of felt surprised to still actually be there. Well, with her knowing about it anyway. If she'd thrown him out as he was guessing a lot of people would have done when she'd first found out that he was half demon, he would have just snuck around the place until he'd gotten what he needed to done. But she'd allowed him to stay, she'd trusted him, and he had to wonder why. After all, if the roles had been reversed, and he was in her shoes, the moment he heard the bullshit he'd told her he would have grabbed her by the back of the shirt and thrown her out of his place literally. Especially if he'd led the kind of life where demons were only myths as they seemed to be around here, not true or false, just a what if or a 'I'm going on faith here' type of thing if that was your cup of tea.

But then again, he had to consider what she'd seen before that. She didn't have a choice but to believe him. Dante sighed inwardly, then he thought for a moment about Lady. He got the feeling she'd probably get along with Regan, and considering the way things were going, he'd been thinking about calling her even though he'd told her he wouldn't. She'd probably appreciate it though, she was good at solving mysteries, and Dante was grateful for that. It wasn't that Dante _couldn't_ solve them, just that he normally didn't have the patience to.

Dante decided in that moment however that he should probably just leave Regan be and let her read the journal. Pushing himself up, he only told her simply, "I'll be around if you need me."

Regan glanced up at him as he walked to the door, and allowing him to open and shut it without saying another word to him outside of, "Okay," she sighed and turned her eyes back to the page she'd been reading, getting on with it. She only hoped this journal shed a lot more light on the situation than they previously had.

_--_

6:00. All damned day, and Regan still hadn't come out of her room. Far be it for Dante to intrude on someone's private time like that, but this wasn't a usual circumstance. He knew she'd been reading that journal, and he knew she was also being effected tremendously by the things that had taken place around them. But Dante had been stuck watching Doc trying to entertain Evelyn and take care of her, and then talking with Jack once when he was awake. Jack didn't have a lot to say however, considering how tired and out of it he was. Aside from that, a kid and a gimp guy wasn't exactly the most completely entertaining things to Dante. So he'd gone back to his own room, caught up on his Z's, as if he felt he had to, which he didn't, woke up, wondered about Regan, fell back to sleep for another hour, and then couldn't sleep anymore. He decided at that point in time that his best bet would be to go annoy himself a pretty little redheaded cowgirl.

The thought made him grin.

Besides, if this guy Nathan knew anything, and had written it down in his journal, then chances were that Regan knew about it by now, and Dante wanted to know, so he strolled on up to her room and didn't even knock on the door, somehow getting the feeling that, like any depressed chick, she'd keep silent and turn him away rather than letting him in to talk to him. So turning the doorknob, he did just that.

Regan was sitting at her dresser, Nathan's diary folded up shut before her, laying on the surface, and when the door opened, she glanced up into the mirror and at Dante. Regan lifted her brows and said, "That's a nice knock you've got there, I'd tell ya I could've been naked, but I somehow don't think you'd give a damn."

Okay, so maybe she wasn't as depressed as he'd first thought she'd be. Shrugging, Dante shut the door behind him with his foot, "Nope, just a way of getting me to come back again and again," and instead of asking her if she was okay, thinking she might get a bit quiet on him, he asked, "Did the journal tell you anything?"

Regan scoffed, and she lifted her head from where she'd rested it against her fist, putting her hands down on the dresser, "Yeah, it tells me a shitload."

"About what?"

"About that I'm screwed," she replied, blowing a sigh through her lips and at the same time some of her red hair from her face.

Moving toward the bed, Dante sat on the edge of it, watched her turning to face him in her chair, her look dejected, but not so completely depressed he thought she might like to kill herself. "How are you screwed?"

"Well," she started, lifting a hand, "for starters, Nathan was my brother. That makes Evelyn my niece."

Well, there was a kick in the ass, sorta, Dante thought to himself, though it wasn't completely shocking in the fact that he'd seen what Nathan looked like, and the hair was a dead giveaway. "Well, that still doesn't explain how you're screwed."

"I'm getting to that," she informed him, taking a deep breath and then leaning forward, folding her hands against her stomach. "Apparently, Nathan was the leader of a cult called Democrites that worshiped some kind of demon. He even had a baby for the soul purpose of killing her when she was old enough and the time was right in order to release this demons powers from hell, and then, Nathan fell in love with his daughter over time and changed his mind, tried to straighten up his shit and fly straight."

Dante had heard some dark shit before, but having a baby for the sole purpose of killing it? Now _that_ was completely ridiculous. But Dante never tried to understand the world as a whole or even the choices and decisions of one individual unless it immediately effected himself. He knew there was fucked up shit, and then there was good shit, and it was the good that was worth fighting for. So when Regan told him that, his face remained indifferent, understanding that, unfortunately things like that happened everyday, and all he said to her was, "Seems like a big fucking waste to me."

"Damn straight," she agreed on a muttered voice. "Well, anyway, there's mention of some guy named Arias in the journal who is apparently the son of this demon," she glanced at Dante, "any idea who he might be?"

Dante nodded, "Yeah, the guy who stabbed you."

"Oh," Regan drew out, "then _that's_ who's ass I get to shove my foot into." She rolled her eyes, getting quiet for a moment. Dante just waited, knew she'd continue in a moment, he wasn't in a hurry. After all, he'd waited this long, he could wait a little bit longer. Finally, she did continue. "Well, Arias was looking for something called the Gateway and has been for a while now, which according to Nathan is a human that was fitting to be used as a way to channel some kind of demonic energy into this world to allow a demonic army to rise and take over by infusing the human with the blood of the demonic master, which," she trailed off, looking down and away from Dante, "is apparently me."

"Is that how you're screwed?" Dante asked, making sure he had his facts straight before he made any comments on them.

Regan shook her head, "Only part of it. From what Nathan said, the only way to stop it is to kill the Gateway." She finally looked at Dante, her eyes seeming to be searching his as if she were seriously questioning something about him, perhaps even a little afraid. "Does that mean you have to kill me now in order to stop this?"

Dante scoffed, sitting back, giving her a look, unabashedly letting his eyes move up and down her body. "I don't see no demon army around, sweetheart, and besides, I wouldn't put too much stock into what some cult leader put in his journal. For all you know, there could be a million ways to reverse it."

"Maybe," she replied, glancing down, then she shook her head and stood up, trying to snap herself out of it, "sorry, I'm not usually like this, I just don't feel like myself."

"I wouldn't doubt it, you're part demon now." Dante replied and he stood as well, watching her moving across the room and then back again, pacing.

"Yeah, I'm part demon, and I just know that up until you waltzed onto this ranch, things in my life were pretty much normal. But now demons not only exist, but now I'm sort of one or something, and my ranch is being attacked left and right, I have a niece I didn't know about," she groaned and turned around, looking at him, "I swear I just feel like pulling my hair out."

"I like your hair," he told her, "leave it alone."

"Dante," Regan grumbled, sitting back down, leaning on her elbow again, "don't joke with me right now, I'm not in the mood. I'm not capable of dealing with this. I'm just a rancher for shits sakes, I don't know _anything_ about the kind of life you lead where you apparently have to know how to fight with a sword and kill to survive." Regan took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I just want to be normal again."

Dante watched her after she stopped talking, just stood there quietly. He knew she probably wanted to be alone again, but he also knew that she needed to get it off of her chest, get her mind off of it, and she wasn't going to do it by just sitting around here all of the time. She needed to unwind, unload, and he got the feeling somehow that he was the only person who could help her do that, considering her current newfound identity and the fact that she was the same as him now.

So finally moving, and walking over to her, he waited until she looked up at him, then he told her, "I know what you need."

"What's that?" She asked him out of sheer curiosity alone.

"You need to get the hell out of here and do something to get your mind off of all this shit. Have some fun."

Regan gave him a look that suggested he was crazy. Shaking her head, she replied, "Have fun? At a time like this?"

"A time like what? There's shit to do around here at the moment, everyone's being uptight, and I'm bored as hell. You must do _something_ to get your mind off of things. So what is it, Regan? Shooting loud mouthed assholes wearing red trench coats?"

Regan could feel a grin threatening to tug at her lips over his words and she struggled as hard as she could to hide it from him. "No," she rolled her eyes, "though you _do_ make it tempting."

Dante had begun smiling at her when she told him that, and he went on, "So what is it then?"

Groaning, Regan sat back in her chair, "Well, I like to ride when things start getting hectic."

"So go riding."

Regan thought about it for a moment. Then she shook her head, standing up, "I can't, Dante."

"Why the hell not?," Dante asked, getting the feeling he knew exactly why, and he wanted to prove her wrong, "Because you feel like you have some kind of responsibility to stay here all the time now that this crap has happened? You know what I say? Fuck that. If I'm feeling like shit, the rest of the world can kiss my ass. You need to get out of here." He then smirked at her devilishly as she turned to look at him. "You need to get a big stallion between your legs."

Regan stared at him a bit blankly. She blinked once, then lifted her finger, "Oh now I _know_ I'm not going to go riding, just so Dante can have a fantasy about me on the back of some animal."

"Yeah, that'd be nice," he said, glancing to the side thoughtfully, "Getty up."

"Good grief," Regan grumbled, walking past him, grabbing her doorknob and turning it. "Why don't you just Getty on up out of here now?"

With a scoff, Dante shrugged, "Fine, but you'll be missin' me when I'm gone. You'll be thinkin'," he walked to the door and then said in a more girly tone of voice, "if only I'd let Dante talk me into riding, we could go into the woods and I could find out what his other _sword_ looks like," he emphasized the word sword, using it as a double meaning for his equipment in his pants.

Regan could've smacked her forehead. "Don't you ever quit?" She asked him, her tone of voice as vexed as it could get, "I could be dying for sure in the next five minutes and I bet the only thing you'd have to say to it would be 'might as well go out with a bang'."

"You know it, sweet cheeks," Dante smirked at her, crossing his own arms over his chest, waiting to see what her next reply would be.

Regan didn't say anything, she just pushed the door all the way open, "Just..." she trailed off, sighing, her mood turning even more black than it had been before.

"Just what? Drag you outta here so we can go get one of your horses and have a little fun?"

"No," Regan pointed out, looking back up at him, "I don't think so. Besides, _we_? Who said you'd be going along?"

"I do, I figure one of the reasons you don't wanna go anywhere is because you're scared something's going to happen to you. Right?"

He was right. Regan shrugged, reaching up to scratch her nose before risking a glance up to his face. "Maybe," she told him if only to not get his arrogance up. "It's just too risky." After saying that, she peered over at him again and lifted a brow, asking, "Isn't it?"

"No," Dante told her flatly as if he didn't think _anything_ was too risky which, Regan had noticed about him over the past few days, seemed to be the case. He was a ballsy bastard after all and, she knew from what she'd seen, had every right to be. When she hesitated to say anything more, Dante figured that she was considering it, that he was wearing her down in her convictions, so he gave her a smile, "What's it gonna hurt? Let me take ya out on a snow date. You get to be seen with a good looking guy, and I get to pretend I'm gonna get more out of it than we both know you're gonna give. We both win."

The way he'd phrased it made Regan snort, her lips folded down as if she were trying to keep herself from smiling. Finally, she turned as if to leave the room and nodded her head at him, "Alright, but it's not a snow date, just a ride."

"Like I said, I get to pretend." He informed her as he followed in behind her, out of the door, and she shook her head at him with a soft sigh parting her lips. Somehow she got the feeling there was just no talking to this guy, once he'd made his mind up, he'd made his mind up. If he wanted to pretend it was a snow date, then she'd let him. She'd just have to fend off all of his womanizing advances as always. It made her wonder if he didn't pretend _everything_ they'd done was a date or something.

Several moments later, they found themselves out by the stables in the snow where Regan opened the door and she walked inside. She went to the stall that Lucas was normally kept in and reached her hand out to his nose, touching him. As she did, Lucas made a snort at her that she hadn't heard before, but knew it meant he didn't particularly like the person who was touching him.

He didn't recognize her as the same person anymore.

Regan frowned over the realization, her brows wrinkling at the animal, saying, "Lucas, it's me." The horse had pulled his head back and shook it, turning a bit and stepping back. She let her hand fall away from him, and felt a kind of depression she hadn't felt yet, but that she knew was probably coming eventually over this whole mess of things.

"What's wrong?" Dante asked as he stepped up behind her.

"He's not acting like himself. Every time I come into this stable and he sees me, he's usually dying to get out of here. Now he's not. He's acting like I'm a stranger." She sighed, trying to think of a reason for it besides her recent change in species, so to speak, and she said softly, "Maybe it was the activity the other day, it _did_ spook him." Somehow, she couldn't entirely convince herself of that, at least, not as the entire reason Lucas was acting like this now, only part of it. She knew the other par was because she'd changed too, and Lucas was very particular.

"Well find another horse to ride." Dante suggested simply, ready to take a look around.

Even at Dante's persistence of their ride excursion, Regan had completely lost the motivation to do anything of the sort. "I don't even feel like doing this anymore," she muttered and turned to walk away when Dante grabbed her arm and pulled her back, making her gasp and narrow her brows at him as he started looking at the horses kept in the stalls, pulling her in behind him. "Dante," she grumbled out, but didn't fight him, just sighed defeatedly as she let him drag her along. What a stubborn jackass he could be, she thought to herself for a moment.

Though in some way, deep down, she was thanking him immensely.

There was a nice variety of animals about, mostly quarter horses and a few ponies, and Dante continued walking, taking a look at the animals that seemed to either rear back from him a bit or just show some indifference. Then he came to a stop, spying a stall in particular with a nicely sized horse in it, in other words, a very large horse in it, and asked as he pointed, "What about that one?"

In the stall he was eyeing was a black Clydesdale, and Regan lifted her brows at Dante, "Why that one?"

The horse was bobbing its head in a slightly excited fashion, even reached out and seemed to sniff at Dante, blowing on him slightly, hard enough to make his white hair gust back. Seeing this, Regan smirked, then she told him, "I mean, Duke's a good horse, but he doesn't like to be ridden too much, he likes to throw people."

Dante didn't really realize just how big the horse was until he'd gotten up close to it, and he told her, "Perfect, it'll keep me entertained."

"Alright," Regan gave in with a defeated sigh, "We'll ride Duke."

She moved to open the stall, figuring Dante was leading this show mostly, so she'd just give in to what he wanted, well, as far as _this_ went anyway. Grabbing a saddle, she began to get Duke dressed up, and noticed the entire time that he patiently waited where usually he'd move a bit to make it difficult considering his dislike for riding while watching Dante. Pushing the thought from her head though, she finished off and grabbed the reigns. Pulling Duke from the stall, the horse continued to try and turn to Dante as she led him out and once she got him into the snow, Dante noticed the long white fur surrounding its hoofs, "Hey, that's a Budweiser horse."

Regan was just slightly smirking, turning her head to look at him, "He's a Clydesdale, yes, you _would_ know something like that, wouldn't you?"

Dante gave her a look as the horse turned and rubbed its nose against his shoulder, and he replied, "Hell yeah, when I was younger, I wanted to drive that carriage. But then I realized it'd probably be boring, no matter how much beer I got."

"Well, Duke seems to like you, so that's a good thing."

"Yep, we stick together."

Staring, Regan had no idea what Dante was talking about. Seeing the look on her face, Dante turned and grabbed the saddle and mounted the animal without a problem, then he explained to her, "We're both hung."

"Oh God, look, you have fun, riding with your hung companion, I'm not–," she gasped when Dante grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the animal. He wasn't going to let her turn back now, and so she just turned and let him help her up onto the horse, gasping a bit when he grabbed the back of her leg and pulled it over the animals back, then hoisted her onto his lap. Regan stared ahead blankly, and her ass settled against his crotch, and she felt him reaching around her to grab the pommel of the saddle which was just in front of her crotch.

"Dante," she started, "I don't think–"

"I'm not ridin' this damned thing by myself. I've had enough of horses for the past few days. You're driving." He reached up and pulled her black hat off, then stuck it on his own head so he could see past her better, tilting it forward just a slight bit as she looked back at him with a raised brow. He smirked at her, and she noticed, though she didn't want to, that he looked far too handsome in that hat for his own damned good. With a shake of her head, she decided to just let it go for now, and took the reigns, goading Duke into a trot.

She was slightly thankful he was so stubborn though. She wanted to go riding deep down, but she didn't want to be by herself incase something else attacked her, and he'd given her that without her having to ask anyone. Regan didn't like having to ask anyone anything like that, it made her feel weak. Even still, she figured that if she could get away with it, she'd go without asking just so she could make herself feel as little weakness as possible. But that's when she had a thought, "Wait, what about Evelyn?"

"What about her?"

"I can't just leave her here alone, can I?"

"Well, she's not even here, Doc took her into town. Maybe if you'd come out of your room sometime, you'd get a news flash."

"Oh," Regan replied, "well," she lifted a brow, "sorry."

"Not your fault," Dante told her earnestly, "you have a lot of shit to think about. I couldn't imagine suddenly losing my demonic side and becoming completely human, or losing my human side and becoming completely demonic. You are what you are. It's what your used to and anyone who can't understand that needs a swift kick in the ass."

A solemn smile lit Regan's face, and she was glad he couldn't see it. Dante seemed to know more than he let onto despite the fact that he came off as a hardass without a care in the world to anyone elses feelings but his own sometimes, and she appreciated it. She didn't like to be coddled, and he didn't coddle her. He just told her like it was and then made her do something he knew would be good for her anyway even though she didn't seem to want to do it. She could only wonder if he knew how much he was actually helping her in that moment, if this was all some kind of devious plan on his part, or if he was truly just wanting to go riding for no other purpose that had to do with devious, calculating plans. Thinking it may have been a little bit of both, she decided to just let what would be just be and not worry on it anymore than that.

The snows had stopped falling for the time being but the sky was still grey with clouds. The fields and trees in the distance were white and cold looking however, and somehow, it made Regan feel even better. Maybe because it was so pretty, she couldn't be too sure. A silence had fallen between the two for the moment though, and as they rode on, Regan realized something. Considering how loud the quiet had gotten, she started, "You know, I don't even know your last name. That's sad considering I hired you."

She heard him snorting in amusement, followed by asking her, "Are you asking me now?"

"Sure," she replied, deciding any kind of conversation was better than none.

"Sparda."

Regan's brows narrowed. Somehow the name sounded familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. "Where have I heard that before?"

"Probably from one of those legends about the dark knight."

It suddenly clicked. "Oh yeah, the story about the knight that did something," she shook her head, "why the hell can't I remember it?"

"Betrayed demon kind for the sake of humanity?" Dante asked her.

"Yeah," she nodded slowly, "kind of funny you have the same name."

"Well I would since he's my father."

Regan suddenly reached up and rubbed her eyes, taking a deep slow breath. "Okay, now not only are demons real, and I'm partly one now, but now, apparently, fairytales are true. What's gonna happen next, leprechauns and fairies actually existing?"

"Probably," Dante smirked, felt how tense she'd become over the whole thing again. "Don't sweat it, babe, it's not like it effects you any."

"Well it does, sort of," she grumbled, "it changes reality as I knew it."

"Pfft, reality is what you make of it," Dante muttered, "besides, I have a more important question."

"What's that?" Regan asked, genuinely curious, after all, she'd found out that he seemed to be surprising with whatever he'd say next, so she couldn't wait.

"Where the hell are we? Everything looks the same with this much snow around."

"Well, I grew up here, I know this place like the back of my hand," she informed Dante, then glancing at the back of her hand. There was a mark on it as if she'd scratched it, and she asked herself, "What the hell is that?"

Dante rolled his eyes, "Great, we're screwed."

"We are not," she held up her hand, "it's just a mark, I probably scratched an itch without realizing it."

Dante chuckled and caught her hand, taking a closer look at it. "You've got a freckle."

"I know."

"Where is it?"

She was grinning now, for the first time in what felt like days, and she told him, "Right side, back of my hand, near my index and thumb."

"Okay," Dante nodded, speaking as if she'd just gotten the first question in a line of very important questions right, "and where's the mole?"

"There's not a mole!" She replied somewhat loudly as she turned her head a bit and jerked her hand away from him, still grinning. Realizing he could probably see the grin, she turned back to the reigns just as soon as she'd gotten her hand away from him.

"Wait a second," he reached around and grabbed her chin, "I saw something."

"No you didn't," she informed him, keeping her head facing forward, the grin plastered across her lips growing bigger.

"Oh yeah I did," he started turning her head a bit, and she tilted it to the side to keep herself from looking at him as he slightly bent over her shoulder, "You're grinning. I knew it, I'm the man."

"You're a child," she grumbled, trying not to give him anything more than she already had like a laugh or a chuckle. Somehow she couldn't help it. She was just amused to no end, and it seemed like no matter how hard she was fighting his efforts into making her feel better for at least a little while, she just couldn't win.

Dante knew that was her game, trying to keep herself from smiling or laughing because she didn't want him to win. So he lifted his head back, looking at the snowy scenery around them, and he told her, "Yep, I know what'll make you laugh. I suddenly feel like singing."

"Oh God, don't," Regan implored him. "There's no need to scare the horse." Yet even though she'd put it like that, she couldn't help but be completely curious as to what the hell the man would sing.

Dante gave her a narrowed brow, then told her, "Hey, I can sing. Just let me think of the words." He started making a 'hmm' noise as he thought for a few moments, then he lifted his hand, "Trotting through the snow, a hot ass in my lap, it's a fucking tease that makes me wanna fap. I try to call her names, to get her in the sack, but it pisses her off so much she'd shoot me in the back, oh! Dante's sex, Dante's sex, he's not gettin' none. All he wants is a real hot chick so he can get 'ir done! Dante's sex, hot, hot sex, it's a fucking shame. He comes off as a pervert and the blue balls are to blame!"

Regan could _not_ help herself. By the time he was done singing that, she was nearly red in the face from laughing so much. What the hell!? "Oh God," she breathed out, trying to speak coherently, "You did _not_ just come up with that just now, did you?" If he'd wanted to win in the game of tug of war with trying to make her laugh, he'd definitely just wiped the floor with her.

"Yes and no," he grinned in reply, "I've kind of thought about it before."

"Jesus," she muttered, still grinning, "should I be scared now?"

"Only if you don't like blue balls."

"God!" Regan groaned loudly and pulled herself further away from him just to poke fun at him. "You know you really are terrible."

"You know it, babe," he smirked. "So, why don't you try one?"

"One what?"

"A song, shouldn't be too hard."

Regan rolled her eyes. "I don't think so."

"Oh come on, what's it gonna hurt? Though yeah, if you can't do it, then don't worry about it."

"I can do it!" Regan snapped out at him.

"Then do it."

"Fine!" She grumbled and started thinking of the words as a cold wind picked up over them, making them both thankful for their heavy clothing. Dante waited, wondering what she would come up with. Finally, she started singing, "Dante the red devil hunter, had a very shiny sword. And if you ever saw him, it would make you say 'good lord'." She spoke 'good lord' as if she were annoyed.

Dante grinned and asked her, "What's that supposed to mean, saying I'm ugly?"

"No, not for an ass."

"That's low."

"Well, asses _are_ on the lower half of your body."

"Smartass."

"You know it, Slick," Regan smirked, her mind completely off of the events of the passed few days now, and she was back to her old self for the moment. "So am I gonna finish this song, or what?"

"Be my guest," Dante held out his hand and smirked at her, allowing her to continue. He was definitely curious as to what she'd come up with.

"Okay," she cleared her throat, "All of the other wranglers, liked to laugh and cheer him on. They didn't know poor Dante, had a case of blue ball syndrome. Then one snowy autumn eve, Dante came to say, 'Regan with your hair so red, why don'tcha jump into my bed!'. So were the blue balls cured? I guess perhaps we'll never know. But I can tell you one thing, no one really knows," she stopped, then looked back, "what Regan buried in the snow."

"Damn, I'll think twice next time before asking you to sing a song." Despite his distaste for the song, he was still smirking over it, and Regan pulled on the reigns as they moved by a stump jutting out of the ground. She knew exactly where they were when she saw it, and she pulled the horse to a stop so she could get him to turn left. Hitting her boots into his sides once he'd turned, he started trotting again and she smiled over Dante's comment on the song she'd sung him.

"What's wrong, truth hurt?"

"Nah, but I can see now why you don't have a boyfriend, guys are probably terrified of you."

Regan chuckled, her shoulders moving up in a shrug, "No, but I like to get my point across. Keeps the guys off of me."

"I can tell. What about Jack, haven't you two ever hit it off?"

"Nah, he's kinda like my big brother," Regan replied, "he's about ten years older than me, and we grew up together."

Dante considered that for just a moment, then he tilted his head slightly, "Seems like a recipe for that mushy love crap to me, but I guess if that's how you look at him, then you can't help it."

"Well, we _did_ try once about a year ago and it just got weird."

"Oh," Dante replied, getting the feeling he could see what she'd mean. After all, if he'd grown up with a girl whom he looked at like a sister, and then tried to, he trailed of in his mind, yeah, he didn't think that'd work out too well. Looking down at the back of Regan's head after he had that thought, watching the curls of her hair swaying in the breeze slightly, he considered what she'd told him so far. He noticed that the more he found out about her, the more he wanted to find out about her, and while it'd been a long time since he'd had such an interest in a single person before, somehow he didn't mind it. "Why no one else," he heard himself asking before he'd had a chance to think about it.

Regan tilted her head slightly, looking back at him as if she were thinking on how to put it, then she glanced ahead again, "I guess you could say it's just not the right time for me. I'm so busy with the ranch I don't have much time to pay any attention to anyone else."

Mentioning the ranch brought back the thoughts of everything going on around them, and her head tilted down for a moment. "I have to thank you now, actually," she told him after she'd had the thought of it.

"For what?"

"Well, besides for saving my life, just for getting me out here today. It's helped a lot."

"I'm still calling it a date."

"You would," she grinned, "and what about you? Rotten luck with women, or have you got a couple hanging on the line back home?"

"Always," Dante smirked, "but if you mean a steady girlfriend, I'm not quite the relationship type of guy. Maybe one day, right situation, I might call myself a one woman man, but for now, I'm just playing the field."

Regan shook her head. He would think like that, wouldn't he? Probably just a typical guy thing as well where they say they sleep around, but haven't seen any action in a while themselves. But then again, you never did know, she thought, and only told him, "I'd tell you to watch out for STD's, but I don't think you'd be able to get one."

"Fuck that, I'm still not gonna stick my key in a biohazard unit. I might be stronger than the average human, but I'm not about to risk that kind of shit."

Regan started chuckling, sighing a soft breath of steam before she pulled her hands together and grumbled, "Why the hell didn't I think of gloves? My fingers are frozen."

Pulling her hands up to her mouth, she blew her warm breath on them, and watched Dante taking the reigns. She reached for his hands and placed them on his bare wrists to get him to let go of them, making him jerk, "Damn, you're a popsicle stick."

"Yeah, now let go of the wheel."

"No," he replied, taking her wrists with one of his hands and putting them back down on the pommel, "You get 'em warm. If you want the wheel back sooner, you can always stick 'em in my pants."

Regan started snorting quietly in her amusement to try to and stop herself from laughing, and she replied, "With your blue balls? They'd probably just freeze and break off."

She heard his soft chuckling at the running gag they seemed to have going now about the blue balls and she pulled her coat sleeves down over her hands, letting him drive for the moment so to speak. Somehow, and she wasn't sure how, but she was getting used to his crass comments, knowing now he had a big penchant for saying whatever the hell he wanted to because, honestly, he could kick some major ass, and if someone got offended by what he had to say, they'd have a hell of a time trying to make him take it back. But despite that, he didn't seem to be a bully, and she appreciated that about him. He didn't let this power he had make him go around thinking he could hurt anyone's feelings at any time just because he didn't like them, though she got the feeling he'd done it when he knew they deserved it.

She herself had a habit of saying what she thought no matter who's feelings she hurt, and she'd had to train herself over the years to bite her tongue constantly because unlike Dante, if someone got angry with her, and honestly wanted to fight her, she didn't really know, besides shooting, how to do it. Oh, she could swing a fist, but somehow she knew she just had too passive of a nature to really do that, at least, often anyway.

Dante himself was considering that aspect of her nature at about the same time. He figured he was absolutely right in that she didn't have a boyfriend because there wasn't a real man she'd come across yet who could stand up to her sharp tongue, but once you got past that, there was really a sweet girl underneath who wouldn't claw your eyes out like she'd claimed she would. With that thought in mind, he asked her, "So, since this is as close to a date as I'm gonna get with you, let me ask you a personal question."

"Go ahead and ask, but I'm not promising you any answers, if even a truthful one." She smirked a little, having said that thinking he was might ask her some kind of risque question like about what kind of sexual fetishes she might've had.

"Okay, fine by me. How long has it been?"

"Since what?"

"Since you've been with anyone."

Regan turned her head, giving him a perked brow, "Been with anyone _how_?"

"Hot monkey sex," he grinned playfully, and when she rolled her eyes, he chuckled, "I'm joking, I mean just anyone period."

"Well," she thought for a moment, "hmm, maybe six years?"

"When you were 15? Damn, you're overdue." Dante himself thought he hadn't had any in a while, maybe a few months, but six years? That sounded like she'd been with a guy and didn't like it very much. He had a devilish thought of showing her what was so great about it.

"I had a few flings in between but they didn't lead to anything," she told him honestly, somewhat ruining his idea of her having not liked it, though in reality, they were talking about two different things entirely. Regan just meant dating, Dante was thinking about sex by the way she'd put it. It was a common mistake many people made and, in that place and time, neither of them made the connection of what the other was thinking or talking about.

Reaching up for his hands at that moment to bat them away from the reigns when they felt warm again, Regan could then see the ranch off in the distance signaling the end of their ride. Dante didn't let go though and he only grabbed her hands and smirked as she pulled at them, "Let go."

"Why? Don't like holding hands?"

"You're poking fun at me, that's why," she smirked, tugging at her hands in his and finally managing to grab the reigns on her own even though his hands were still on hers. She noticed the size difference then, how much bigger his hands were compared to hers, and she tried not to notice by looking away. It was an attractive thought that she didn't need to be having about him right then and there. Changing the subject, she said, "You know, I really have no idea how to fight. If those guys come back, I'm gonna be at a loss for words besides just shooting them like I did before, and that didn't seem to work very well."

Dante considered what she'd said, and he knew she was right, "Blades work better on them sometimes, but you did a pretty damned good job last night from what I could see."

"Bleh," Regan drew out the sound blandly, "if I'd done a good job, Jack wouldn't have gotten so hurt. Which, by the way, have you even seen him today?"

"Yeah, Doc's got him on the good stuff. He's fine. And if you're worried about fighting, I can show you how to do that."

"Oh God, no thanks." Regan smirked, "Somehow I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Well, if you need a protector then," Dante went on, "I can do that too."

"I don't need a protector!" Regan rolled her eyes, "I just don't need a cocky guy in a red trench coat showing me up all of the time because, let's be honest, you know you'd do it."

"Oh of course, otherwise it's not any fun."

"You're such an ass," she grumbled, coming toward the stables again and pulling on the reigns to get Duke to stop. It was only then that Dante remembered he had her hands covered with his and still hadn't let go of them. Regan only just then noticed as well at the movement she'd made, which had been what caused Dante to notice. Dante slowly pulled his hands back, deciding for once to be polite, telling her he was sorry simply.

"It's okay," she replied, "they actually stayed warm."

"Oh, well, then I'm not sorry. I knew you'd like it."

"Ass," she repeated at him.

"You're obsessed with that, aren'tcha?"

"No," she muttered, "only as much as you're obsessed with reading a good book and drinking a cup of tea."

"Heh, no thanks," Dante drew out blandly, climbing off of Duke's back, and then he looked up as Regan did the same. It'd started getting a bit dark by that time, they'd been riding for about half an hour, and Regan began to get Duke into the stables again even though he seemed more interested in hanging around Dante than anything else. "I'll come to see ya sometime, buddy," Dante told the horse as she led it off. He thought it was pretty funny that a Budweiser horse of all horses liked him.

He waited outside of the stables after she disappeared into them and he leaned against the wall. He wasn't sure what to think. Somehow he was disappointed, and he didn't know why. He felt like he still wanted to be out riding with her, had actually enjoyed it despite the fact that for better or for worse, nothing exciting had happened, just a good conversation with an intelligent, hot woman. He knew that normally, he wouldn't have even hung around outside of the stables. He probably would have just walked off and called it an evening. That's when he remembered the hat he was wearing, and he pulled it off, knowing that he probably looked good in it, but he needed to give it back to her. So he used that as an excuse to wait.

When Regan came back out of the stables and she stretched her legs and back a bit, he looked over at her, and saw her glancing around as if she were wondering where he'd went. Spotting him on the other side of the door, she pointed to the lodge with her thumb over her shoulder on the other side of the ranch in the distance, "Going inside?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll see you there, then." She told him, turning around.

"Regan."

Having used her name instead of some endearment, Regan felt more obligated to pay him attention, and she turned around to look at him, wondering what he wanted. When she did, she found him standing right next to her, and she also found her mouth once more pressed against his like it had been the other day. Dante had actually only meant to give her the hat back, when he'd called her name, but when she'd stopped and started turning around, he'd had the thought of 'fuck it'. If he was going to get smacked for this, then he'd get smacked. But he wanted to kiss her, if only to settle his lustful thoughts because he'd be a complete liar if he said he wouldn't want to sleep with the woman.

His tongue had brushed along the softness of her thick lips, tracing them back and then forth, only slight caresses, before he pulled his mouth away and took a good breath. "Okay, you're gonna smack the shit out of me now, aren't you?"

Regan had opened her eyes slightly at the words and looked up at his face, still so close to hers, and she bit her lip before she put her arms up on his shoulders and kissed him herself, a movement he accepted immediately and let his lips part for. Their tongues met this time, and Regan had to stand up on the balls of her feet to meet him properly, being several inches shorter than he was.

A few faint flakes of snow had started falling from the sky again, a cold wind blowing through the air over them, and Dante pulled her closer, arms moving around her back while the kiss grew warmer between them. His hand slid up and into her loose hair, the other one dropping the hat, and pressing her against him by her lower back.

Their tongues stroked each other and Regan realized in that moment that Dante was an exceptionally good kisser. He could feel her swaying a bit against him, as if she were deeply affected by it, and then moving to her tip toes once more to try and keep up. So he reached his hands down her back and over her ass, pulling her up from the ground and against him completely, moving her back to the wall. Her soft whimper sounded, incited him to continue, and she caught his bottom lip in her teeth and pulled her head back slowly, dragging his lip out against them until it bounced back into place. Dante groaned over the movement and he leaned down once more and covered her mouth again, squeezing her ass in his fingers through her jean pants.

Regan gasped into his lips slightly, arched her back to press her body into his, and dug her nails into his coat sleeves. She felt something inside of her coming alive like she'd never felt before, and it was overwhelming, almost to the point of being undeniable. Her legs slid up his sides, around his thighs, and she pressed into him a bit harder, wanting to incite more from him, almost feeling like she needed to, _had_ to. She then felt his hand sneaking up her chest, fingers opening, sliding slowly around her breast beneath her coat.

When he cupped it, squeezed it, Regan gasped and she felt her nipple growing hard in anticipation. The reaction sent shivers down her body, through her blood and into her panties where she felt a throbbing beginning to form. The kiss had become much more ravenous, and hearing her whimpered moan as Dante had began to brush his finger over the area of her nipple, his own arousal started really coming to life. It made him sound a low groan in the back of his throat, and with the moaned response she gave him, he turned his head and began placing kisses against her throat.

Regan was breathing heavily, lost in the movements, her hands inside of his jacket as she gripped his sides. Hearing her heavy breathing, moving in to her ear, he asked her on a soft, husky voice, "Overdue?" But Regan couldn't be completely sure she'd understood him, and she only turned her head to try to kiss him again, which made him smirk. Slowly, Dante let his hand wander down from her breast during the kiss, down against the groan of her pants, and he felt her body tensing up against him when he pressed them up into her crotch, slowly circling.

A flood of desire washed over Regan so strong that, during the intensified, tongue thrusting kiss, she opened her eyes and suddenly made a loud groan. She turned her head away from his and, not knowing her own strength, pushed him back from herself by his shoulders, allowing her legs to fall back to the ground. Both of them were panting a slight bit, Regan much more than Dante however, and she turned away from him roughly, trying to put some distance between them by walking off. The movement made Dante think she was disgusted with him suddenly, so when she turned to walk away, he caught her by the shoulders and pulled her back against the wall again to stand in front of him. "Wait a second, what the hell was that all about?"

Regan kept her eyes closed, and she swallowed, trying to get her throat cleared so she could speak a decent sentence. "It went too far, Dante, we don't need to do this, I normally _don't_ do this," her breathing still heavy and her heart still pounding over the movements. She'd never been that excited before, and it scared her a bit. So she'd reacted the way she had, and tried to get away from him until she could gather her thoughts together.

Dante himself hadn't meant for things to go that far, he'd only wanted to give her a proper kiss and then be done with it. But maybe it was the way she'd reacted to him, but whatever the reasoning, he'd found himself having not wanted to stop. Still, he didn't want her to just jerk away from him either, not over something they _both_ hadn't meant to happen quite exactly as it had. "Well, you can always just say I'm a hot bastard if you need an excuse to blame it on." Dante replied, letting go of her shoulders, "But it doesn't have to be like that, I do have control you know. If you want me to stop, just say so."

"Sorry," she whispered, "I just panicked," then she finally looked up at him, "I've never felt like that before, like I couldn't deny myself."

Demon blood, Dante thought, aside from lustful feelings already there more than likely, and that wasn't an arrogant thought on his part. Well, maybe partly arrogant. "Yeah," he told her, only guessing when he said confidently, "you'll get used to it."

"I'm not so sure about that, Dante, but if you say so," she grumbled, not entirely sure what he meant exactly, but decided not to ask him otherwise she might get pissed at the answer. Then she turned, seeing her hat laying in the snow. Leaning down, she picked it up, dusted it off, and then put it back on her head, deciding to just let things be at that. There was no need to bring up the kiss or the touches they'd just shared ever again, even though she wasn't dumb enough to believe it wouldn't come up anymore. "I'm starving," she muttered. "What do you say to pizza and beer? _A lot_ of beer."

Dante's lips turned up in a big grin, and he held his hands out, "After you, your highness. Best damned idea I've heard all day." After all, Dante felt he'd been putting up with a lot of crap for little or next to no reward, aside from his make out session just now maybe, and pizza and beer sounded really good to him at about that time. "Who're we callin'?"

"Vino's," Regan replied, "little place in town that delivers only, and does pick up, but it's a good twenty five minute drive, especially in this mess." She motioned to the snow around them.

"What's the name of the town," Dante asked her, "West Springs?"

"Yeah," Regan nodded her head, "pretty much where we are, just on the outskirts."

"How big is the town?"

"Well, if you drive up I-77, and you blink, you'll probably miss it. It's a real small place." Regan looked over at him, "Why the sudden interest in town?"

"Might be a good place to check out. After all, if Nathan led the Democrites, then they had to have _somewhere_ they met up once a week on Sunday."

He had a point, she guessed, and glanced over at him, "I'd wait until tomorrow morning, it's a town that fears dusk, and you won't be able to get into a lot of places for any information. But then again, it's your call, Slick," she added, smirking, as if their previous make out session hadn't bothered her relationship with him at all. "They _do_ have a bar and, of course, the pizza place and stuff are open for a while after dark."

Dante didn't make much of a response to her outside of, "I'll think about it." He was wondering to himself how cult activity in such a small town wouldn't be noticed, unless, of course, every single person in the town were cultists. It was possible, he knew, but he could only wonder if it were true or not.

No matter which way it went however, Dante knew he was about to seriously piss some cultists off whenever he put a stop to their object of worships plan.

--

"Kind of surprising, I didn't think I'd find another Democrite I didn't know about hanging around good old Black Wing Creek. Too bad I didn't know about you before, it could have saved me some trouble last night, all I would have had to do was obtain the Gateway."

"Well, they come in all shapes and forms now don't they?"

Arias rolled his eyes, back facing the man he was speaking to. "Spare me the philosophy in order to make yourself appear to fit in. As far as _I'm_ concerned, you're just another human trying to assure your own survival in the threat of demonic danger." Turning, Arias let his black eyes move over the man standing before him. "I have to ask you though, what is it that makes you worship my father?"

The reply was given after a short hesitation. "Because humans are weak like you said. They weren't meant to govern themselves. They worship things they don't even know exist and then stupidly try to make their own rules. At least demons are honest in their deceit and don't try to lie to themselves to justify a situation, only to each other."

"Such a brown nosing speech you've given," Arias replied to the man who narrowed his brows slightly. Arias began walking around the man slowly, looking him over. "But if you really wish to throw yourself away in worshiping such a demon, that's none of my concern."

"And might I ask why you _don't_? After all, he _is_ your own father, is he not?"

Arias rolled his eyes, coming to stand before the human. "If I were you, I'd not ask me my personal affairs twice. He spawned me, yes, and he has power, yes, the rest is our own business, not yours. Now," he went on, lifting his hand and waving it as if to change the subject that way instead of with words, "you're going to watch over the little girl for us, and see to it she's cared for until we need her, correct?"

"Yes, of course," the man nodded. "I'm not bad with children at all, and she won't be a problem for me to look out for."

"Ah, I see. In that case, just make sure you don't let yourself follow the same path as Nathan by finding the urge to fall in love with the child growing inside of you. You know what his decision led _him_ to."

"Yes, I know, and speaking of Nathan, I have a request to put toward you." Though oblivious to any other human, Arias could see the burning of greed and excitement over what the man was thinking of in his eyes.

Sighing and unimpressed, he shrugged, "What?"

"I'd like to step up in his place, lead the Democrites. I won't let them down. There must be a way I can prove my worth."

"As if I _really_ care," Arias sighed, moving past the man slowly, then coming to a stop, an idea forming in his head. "That's between Democrities and your own race of humans, but I've an idea pop into my thought well just now," he spun around and lifted a finger at the man who was now facing him, parting his lips and drawing a breath. "If you kill your own son, not only will you prove your fortitude to the Democrites, but also, you'll prove to me that you can be trusted with caring for the child for us. You'll be well rewarded, young sir."

The man smirked, then he stood up straight and nodded his head, "That shouldn't be too hard to achieve. I'll do it as soon as possible."

"Oh you are a _loathsome_ one," Arias shivered sarcastically. Then he smirked, "Might I know the name of such a creature."

Parting his mouth to speak, the man told him, "It's..."


	9. Shadows

_Chapter 8 - Shadows_

One o'clock in the morning.

Five and a half hours to go before the sun came up again.

Then they'd leave him be.

It always started at night. If you weren't inside by then, you'd fall victim to their activities, that is, unless, you converted yourself, and even that wasn't a guarantee at all. But that wasn't an option for him anyway. He couldn't turn back now. He _wouldn't_. His wife and kid, they were somewhere, hiding in this town, he _had_ to find them. But for the moment, he had to make sure he survived first so that he could.

The sound of heavy footsteps could be heard as they made their way swiftly down the dim alleyway, leaving footprints in to melting snow, in their wake quickly made wisps of wind followed in behind the running individual chaotically, shadows flashing over the cement from the streetlight outside of the alleyway that was on the roadside.

The man found the door at the end of the alleyway and he looked back, hearing their sounds, knowing their paths, having dealt with them for several days now, and he gripped the doorknob tightly, jerking on it to try and get the stubborn thing to open, the noise growing closer and closer until the door finally budged, allowing him in and out of harms way for the moment with a loud slam behind himself.

The room inside was pitch black, the one place they couldn't get to him; the darkness. Shadows needed light to exist, and he'd been blinded and alone like this before, feeling his way through the all encompassing darkness of a room, hearing only the deafening silence, and preventing himself from using the flashlight on his belt to create a buffer of darkness between himself and the demonic Shadows following him. They couldn't get through it, wouldn't be able to reach him in it, and he'd have another chance at finding his family.

Moving his way slowly through the room now, a squeak sounded when he placed his foot down again after a few steps, and gasping, knowing it was a rat, the man cringed and lifted his foot back up quickly. Sweat and a bit of blood stained his forehead from a previous engagement, and thinking back to the path he'd taken to get away, he finally remembered the location he was in. West Springs Bar. Only damned bar he'd ever heard of that closed at ten. Right now, he was wondering through the back room of the place where most of the drinks were kept, and hoping that whenever he emerged on the other side, he'd be safe for a little while until he could find more clues pertaining to his missing loved ones.

His gloved hands were sliding across the wall, he slowly felt his way along, a few wires pinned up here and there and a couple of pipes lined against it. Finally, he felt a stop, and he turned against the new wall, moving until he found the doorway into the next room the bar room, which he finally found and used slowly, quietly, standing behind the counter now. He shut the door behind him and then he turned the light switch on next to the door, brown eyes glancing around quickly to make sure nothing was there that could harm him.

Sadly, there was, but not the kind that he could protect himself against by turning the light back out.

"Marvin," came the voice of a man standing at the front of five of the townspeople in the bar, "we've been looking for you, why do you keep running?"

Marvin shook his head, pulling his gun out and aiming it at them even though they were, from what it looked like, unarmed. But looks could be deceiving, Marvin knew that all too well. The gun caused them to back down slightly, the one standing before them who'd been speaking raising his hand as if to try and calm Marvin down. "Put it down, Marvin, we're not here to try and hurt you, just to talk some sense into you."

"I don't believe you, Ed," Marvin replied, his aim on the men and women in front of him never faltering once. "Maybe you should tell that to Vanessa and Linda," his voice had gotten a bit more dramatic, "you remember, don't you? You sister and your niece!?"

Ed took a slow step toward his brother-in-law and shook his head slowly, "I don't know where they are, Marvin, I haven't seen them."

"Liar! You're just like the rest of them!" Marvin yelled angrily. "You don't give a shit about anyone anymore if they don't see things your way! What were those screams in the warehouse, huh? Where's Todd and Tony? Where's Mrs. Cogburn? I wanna know why I keep hearing things in that warehouse at night and why these people keep disappearing! I wanna know why I can't talk sense into _you_ to help me before it's too fucking late!?"

Marvin couldn't help but become irate. This was the first sign of life he'd seen at night since the strange occurrences in the town had began, and when he was ready to get the fuck out of this happy hell hole because of it, his wife and child had gone missing. Marvin started rounding himself about the people to the door so he could leave before anything happened to him at their hands, gun still trained on them. Ed stepped forward again as Marvin did this, shaking his head, "Marvin, don't do this, it won't help anything, and it won't stop him from coming, you know that!"

"I don't know shit anymore, Ed! Fuck all of you!" With that, Marvin turned and shoved the door open, pushing his way through it as the men and women came running up to the door behind him. Ed held out his hands though to stop them, watching the figure of his brother-in-law disappearing down the street. "Let him go," he told them, "the Shadows will get him eventually."

Marvin made his way quickly down the snowy road, the old police precinct that had been moved the year before, where he used to work. It was one of the safest places around, being abandoned now such as it was, the new precinct still in use and currently open, the only place that _was_ this time of night. As he reached the doors, he heard a wisp near the street lights above him. Turning, he looked up to see the familiar swirl of blackness, the shadows that had been chasing him all along, and Marvin could feel his adrenaline pumping harder, his fear of the things obvious on his face. But it only took him a moment to remember that he had to move, to do something, and in that moment, he reached down for his nightstick. Normally he might've used his gun, but he'd been empty all along.

Marvin grabbed it quickly as the shadows above him grew more strength, making a demonic sound that couldn't be explained with words, chilling and grotesque even. Turning quickly before the shadows could make any offensive movements, the policeman hurled the nightstick up at the light the shadows were swarming around. It flew toward the streetlight with a precise measure and hit it dead on, busting it completely, causing Marvin to rear back as the glass came shattering down along with the unhappy screeches and screams of the shadows fading away into the darkness of the human world. His nightstick was one of the last things to land again with a clunk against the sidewalk and the snow as the glass continued shattering downwards for another few moments.

Sighing in the now darkened area, looking up and down the street warily, Marvin retrieved his nightstick and then backed up to the wall slowly. With his gloved hand he felt behind himself to find the doorknob, then grabbed it and pulled the door open with a determined motion before going inside.

The place was devoid of furniture, dusty, and dark, the way Marvin liked it. The darker, the better. Too bad he didn't have a pair of night vision goggles, he'd thought for the umpteenth time over the course of the past few days, with all of the lights he'd destroyed at night only to be replaced the next day by the towns people. Still, he'd done more damage than they'd been able to fix, and thinking to himself, he only wondered what tomorrow would hold now that Ed had found him again, found out that he was the one who'd been causing all of the damage.

Walking into the old precinct, as he stepped, Marvin heard a jingling sounding on the floor, one of a childs toy, a _familiar_ childs toy. He turned and looked down, unable to see in the darkness much, but as he reached for it, his hand met an object that was soft and furry, and he could tell just by touching it that it was a teddy bear that belonged to his daughter. He fell to his knee as he lifted it up, a weight baring him down that he felt he could no longer carry, the need to find his wife and child eating away at his heart, his eyes filling with tears.

Pulling the belled teddy bear up to himself, to his face, he could catch the fragrance of peppermint, his daughters favorite candy, staining the item. "Linda," he whispered to himself, the anger inside him growing at an unprecidented rate until he was crying out her name loudly, "Linda!"

Tears streamed down the mans cheeks for his lost daughter, and he clutched the toy in his hands tightly, staring at its outline in the darkness. Even while feeling he complete grief he did, in the form of this toy he knew somehow that there was hope. He'd found _something_ of his family left here, the first thing he'd seen since they'd gone missing. They were still alive...he knew it. Somewhere, in this town..._wait for me_, he thought out to them, standing back up, _just wait for me, I'll be there, I promise. Then we'll leave together. I won't leave without you._

Lights flashed into the room from the outside of the precinct. Marvin held up his hand and turned toward the blinding light even though he was trying to shield his eyes from it. Beyond the window, however, he could see a car, the headlights on high beams, and as soon as he realized that, he heard that swirling of blackness behind him. Marvin turned around to face it, backing away. He shook his head slowly, then took a deep, startled breath.

Outside of the precinct, a loud yell could be heard, and eventually, all fell into silence.

--

Talk about unfriendly.

Dante looked down the streets as he made his way through the town, quietly strolling along, having taken Regan's advice and waited until morning before he'd departed for the small town named West Springs. It hadn't taken him long to get there either, only long enough to blink really, and he'd parked his car outside of town, feeling like taking a walk instead of driving.

He'd seen a few people from time to time, and throwing his hand up, he'd wave and say hello, seeming, however, to only result in their sudden disappearance, as in, they'd move into the nearest building quickly and go inside.

"I thought these small towns were known for their hospitality," Dante muttered with a slight shrug of his shoulders, turning down another road and heading on down the way.

All in all, the town was nicely kept, looked like something out of an all American novel about a sweet, quiet little place where people could retire to and just get some peace and quiet for once, the kind of place where children were allowed to stay out later because everyone knew everyone else, and if there were any strangers around, everyone would know about it, even bring out the welcome wagon to newcomers. Lugging his guitar case around with him now, instead of having hauled it up in the trunk as it had been for the past few days, Dante considered that as he made his way, shoving his free hand into his pocket, looking just down the street.

West Springs Bar. Good place to start, he figured.

Taking a step forward, Dante heard the crunch of glass, and he glanced down, seeing a broken lamp shade. After that he looked up to see that a street light had been busted, and it was the millionth one he'd come across. "Heh, figures people wouldn't worry about streetlights in a town that goes to bed with the dusk." Shrugging over it, he moved on down the road, toward the place he wanted to get started at.

The door to the bar had a set of bells attached to it, something that let Dante know right off the bat that this definitely _wasn't_ a wild and crazy place. Seeing the closing hours of ten o'clock, he wondered who the hell _could_ live in this town unless they were a really old person, and he moved on into the small pub and grille which was relatively empty save for a few employees, including a waitress, bartender, and cook behind the counter, who'd all looked up from their chatting when Dante had walked in.

They stared at him silently. Dante looked behind himself, then around the room, and when he didn't see anyone else, he asked them sarcastically, "You lookin' at me?," quoting Robert Dinero.

The cook turned around and walked into the back of the bar without a second word or thought seemingly after Dante spoke, and the waitress began to busy herself with cleaning a few things. Dante strolled over to the bar, set his guitar case down next to a stool, and folded his arms over the bar counter. The bartender was still standing there, wiping down a glass, and Dante told him, "You know, you guys sure seem to know how to make a guy feel welcome."

The bartender stopped wiping the glass down and looked over at the newcomer. Without a word, he turned the glass and set it down on the counter, then leaned on it, asking him, "What can I get you, stranger?"

Dante sat back, never looking at the man standing before him, his hair creating a curtain over his eyes almost that seemed to cast a shadow over them, making the icy blue color they were stand out even more. The man looked his hair over, seeming to either not care about the odd coloring of it, or to just be keeping his thoughts to himself. "Got a beer?" Dante asked finally.

"Yeah, what kind?"

"As long as it's not light, I really don't give a shit."

With a nod, the bartender turned and went to the fridge he kept behind the bar counter, reaching into the door after pulling it open, and he grabbed one. Dante glanced over at the waitress who'd come back behind the bar, filling some brandy glasses with matches, keeping her face turned away from Dante at all times. That's when a beer was sat down before him. "That'll be six bucks," the bartender informed Dante.

"Add it to my tab," Dante replied to the tender, "I'm gonna be hangin' around here for a while. The name's Tony."

"Tony?" The guy asked.

Finally, after opening the beer, Dante gave the guy a glance and lifted his brow, "Yeah, Tony, something wrong with that name?"

"Not a damned thing," the man replied, shrugging, taking a rag to his counter that really didn't look like it needed any cleaning at all.

Snorting slightly at the mans reply, Dante really couldn't help but act a bit defensive due to the whole aura of the place, Dante looked around the empty dining room, chugging a bit of his beer as he did so; he was gonna need it if this kind of boring shit kept up. Pulling the beer away from his lips, he asked without looking at the man, "Don't get much business, huh?"

"Not on Wednesdays."

"Maybe if you changed your business tactics you might get some more. That was the best welcome I've gotten from a bar in a long damned time."

The two men did exchange a glance then. The bartender didn't seem to be too offended, but he did seem to be a slight bit annoyed. "We don't take very kindly to strangers," he explained, "they make most people around here nervous."

"Well I just introduced myself, so does that still make us strangers?"

"Yep."

"Well fuckin' a, Bob," Dante called him since he didn't know the guys name, "I'm just an average Joe lookin' for a good drink. Where's the harm in that?"

"My name's Daniel," the guy told him in a somewhat annoyed tone of voice, "and there's no harm, we're just quiet folk is all."

Dante shrugged. "I kinda like Bob better. So anyway, think you could point me to your nearest establishment of worship?"

Daniel had turned around, but he stopped what he was doing for a moment as if curious of the question Dante had just asked, then told him, "Up the road, turn on Sunset street, last building on the right. You a holy man?"

"Hallelujah," Dante replied, "and all that good shit. What about you? Find yourself worshiping a lot?"

Daniel had turned back around, set a few more glasses down which looked as if they needed to be cleaned too, and he replied, "Yep."

"And everyone else around here?"

"Definitely," Daniel said without hesitation. "You've gotta have some type of faith, don't you?"

Dante didn't make much of a reply to that statement. Instead, he just drank more of his beer and shrugged a bit. He would have flat out asked _what_ they worshiped if he wasn't waiting on something in particular, but he also knew even if he did ask, it wouldn't get him a straight or truthful answer, so he had two reasons not to really. For now, he was just going to have to wait a little bit longer.

What a boring fucking place, he thought to himself. But if this kind of shit was going to keep up, Dante got the feeling he could breeze through this town like a duck breezed through the water. It'd be no problem for him at all. The conversation between the bartender and himself seemed to die off after that as well, and Dante just stuck around for a little while longer to wait and see what would happen. After all, he had a friend coming to see him. The bar would be the first place they'd come, knowing Dante's habits.

The bells on the door jingled a few times during the course of his stay there. He considered everything he could do, places he could go, things he could see about, and as a few new people came in and out of the bar, Dante greeted them without care to their nervousness or possible paranoia of him. He just made himself right at home and treated every face he saw like he'd seen it a million times before. He continued to use his pseudonym, Tony Redgrave, with everyone, and even if they didn't make a response to him, which seemed to be the case, he persisted on as if they'd responded, probably making them think he was crazy, not that he gave a shit in particular. May as well do _something_, he thought to himself, especially if he were going to be bored like this.

A total of five customers had ended up walking into the bar over the first hour he was there, the last being a police officer wearing a helmet and a pair of shades who looked over the room quietly, then headed to a seat in the back. Dante caught the sight of his badge on his jacket, the name of which read 'Officer M. Holt", and Dante only paid attention to him because, after a short while, he realized the man had been watching him without thinking he had noticed.

That was just a bit shady.

Nothing else particularly noteworthy happened though at the quiet joint after that which Dante would have remembered later, just the same old shit over and over again. But when he heard the doors opening once more, he looked back, ready to see another of the 'village people' as he'd come to think of them as, when he noticed Lady.

'_Bout damned time_, he thought to himself and grumbled.

Moving over to the bar, Lady leaned on it beside Dante and she tilted her head, "Been drinking long?"

"Hour and a half."

"Good, then you're not too drunk. Ready to beat it?"

"Always," Dante replied to her, ready to get the fuck out of there, standing up and pulling his guitar case off of the floor, the sun beginning to set outside. He noticed the cop at that moment, sitting at his table, putting a few things away, and wondered to himself if the man thought he was going to follow them now. Dante hoped he did. At least then he'd _really_ have something to do. Seeing Dante's line of site, Lady glanced over that way as well, noticed the cop, but said nothing as she simply turned around to leave. Dante moved on in behind her, and as he left the bar with her.

The cop also stood up to leave.

"So, what's with the cop in there?" Lady asked Dante as they walked along the roadside outside of the pub, "And why the hell are people so damned weird around here?"

Dante was quiet for just a moment before he replied, "Fuck if I know, but the cop was watching me, I think we might have a stalker, or at least _I_ might anyway."

"Sounds like fun," Lady told him sarcastically. Dante had called her the night before to meet him here today, and he'd told her what he thought was going on as far as the demon worshipers were concerned. Hearing what he was looking for, Lady came on up to look into it. She'd arrived about forty five minutes ago and finally found the one place she knew Dante would probably go to and park first; the bar.

As they walked along, and the sun drew down in the sky more and more, they noticed how people were running to their houses, even without having been greeted, and how shop owners had turned signs in the windows of businesses to say "Sorry, we're closed". They were much more urgent than before when they'd simply been greeted, and as they all seemingly ran for their lives, Lady told Dante out of context, "You were right about the stalker."

She'd meant, of course, the cop that Dante had spoken of earlier. With all of the people chaotically running about to their homes, it really wasn't all that hard to notice him. "Yeah, seems like the only person who's not ready to tuck tale and run because of the sun going down. Maybe he's a," Dante glanced at her, knowing Lady would understand that he meant _Democrite_.

"Maybe," she told him. "You wanna meet him?"

"Sure thing," Dante replied before turning down a road, all up for meeting a fan of his, and they both turned into an alleyway.

The officer who'd been following them both moved around the roadside just in time to see Dante's red trench coat disappearing into an alleyway before him and around the street corner. Slowly, he moved toward it, stepping around the entrance where the man he'd been following had gone. But as he turned the corner, he didn't see anyone standing there, as if they'd both just up and vanished in the wind.

Narrowing his brows, the officer stepped further into the alleyway, then he looked up at the sky for just a brief moment when he noticed the coloring of it. It was almost dark, almost time for another segment of bullshit. With a sigh, he continued further into the area between the buildings that stretched out along side of dumpsters and garbage cans, looking about carefully. As he searched each possible hiding place he'd come across so far for his targets, he suddenly saw a shadow coming from behind himself, resulting in a quickly given spin. Coming face to gun with Dante, the officer held up his hands, quickly saying, "No, wait, I'm not what you think I am."

Dante's brows narrowed, and the officer heard a click from behind him as well. Glancing back, he saw Lady standing there holding him at gunpoint as well, not directly behind him, but standing a bit off to the side. The officer reached up and took his shades off as this new turn of events came to light, then looked back at Dante again when the devil hunter asked, "And what do we think you are?"

"A demon worshiper? The only damned thing left in this town?"

"Yeah, heard those kind of lines before, buddy, doesn't mean I buy 'em any easier."

The officer groaned, then he told Dante in reply, "Look, my name's Marvin Holt, and I'm unarmed, my gun's empty, but we've _got_ to get inside, where it's dark, the sun's almost down."

"Good, it'll be dark out here then once it does. So if you're not a demon worshiper, then who _are_ you?"

Marvin started stepping to the side, shaking his head at both of them, his movements obviously leading him to a door on the side of the alleyway. "I'm not staying out here so you won't listen to me and then get all three of us killed. I haven't gone though the shit I have to let that happen. Stay out here if you want, but I followed you because I thought you might be able to help me."

An unearthly sound started in the distance as the streetlights began coming on, one by one, slowly, down the streets. There was one streetlight outside of the alleyway, and when Marvin heard the sound off in the distance, it was apparent that he'd become a bit more nervous because he'd began sweating a bit. "Shit," he cussed, "you can't kill them, I've tried, it won't work."

Dante could tell the sound was demonic, and with Lady standing there, he made a decision somewhat quickly, telling her, "Get him inside." This guy was telling the truth, Dante just knew it. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have started sweating when the demonic sounds had been made. So now it was just a matter of taking care of these demons, and then finding out what the fuck was going on in this place.

Marvin shook his head and he reached out, grabbing Dante's arm as the devil hunter had turned back around, causing Dante to look back at him, "They're just shadows. You _can't_ hurt them. The _only_ thing that works is complete darkness, they need light to be able to move."

Dante was about to make a response when the streetlight at the end of the alleyway came on. Both men looked up at it, and Lady did as well standing behind them, seeing a swirling of blackness forming around the now glowing lantern, growing in intensity and strength. Marvin cussed, backing away to the door located just behind himself and he opened it quickly before getting inside and looking back, "Come on!"

At that moment, the Shadows began to move, against the walls from the street light, coming down the alleyway toward Dante and Lady at a swift pace. Dante pulled out Ebony and Ivory and started shooting at them, Lady using her own handguns, hitting the wall as they went, the cement, the trashcans, noticing that Marvin was right, and they weren't stopping. Cussing, Dante, put his guns back up and stepped back. What was he supposed to do next, stab Rebellion into the pavement?

"Fuck," Dante grumbled in simple annoyance, then he turned and grabbed his guitar case and Lady's arm, pulling her toward the door. Lady got inside without a problem, and Dante moved in just as the Shadows made their way through the door because of the light from the street lamp shining just inside of the room. They passed onto Marvin's arm, and he slammed the door shut to block all of the light out as the Shadows encompassed his appendage for only a brief moment.

"Fuck!" Marvin yelled, his entire hand and arm up to nearly his elbow stinging like crazy. He'd been hit by them before though, knew it didn't do any physical damage if you weren't cast in the Shadows long enough, but it sure as fuck hurt like a bitch.

"You okay?" Lady asked, unable to see anything in the darkness.

"Yeah, it just stings at first, but they really tear you up the longer they have you. I saw it happen the first night this went down. It's _not_ a pretty picture," he sighed softly. "It's been this way for about three nights now."

"And you're a cop, why haven't you called in some reinforcements, back up, reported it, some shit like that," Dante asked the guy, able to see just a bit better than the two of them, and able to see Marvin holding his arm now, trying to rub the sting out of it.

Marvin tried to find Dante in the darkness with his own eyes, but could only see a faint outline of the two of them though as he answered, "Because all of the cops around here are in that cult. I'm one of the only ones left who isn't."

"Then why don't you leave?" Lady asked the next obvious question.

"Because my wife and kid are here, Vanessa and Linda. We got separated the first night this shit started, driving down the road to head out of town, when something formed in the headlights of my car, and the Shadows, as I slammed on my breaks in the middle of the road, killed someone across the street from us. I got out of the car and tried to help the person, not knowing what the fuck was going on, when another car came down the road and Shadows from _their_ headlights began attacking my own car. The driver of the opposite car was apparently being killed as well because he crashed and put up a barrier between me and the car my family was in."

Marvin stopped for only a moment, shaking his head with a deep breath that sounded as if he wished none of this story he was telling had ever happened. "Vanessa didn't have a choice, those Shadows were about, so she grabbed Linda and called my name. I told her to run to safety, that I'd find her. It was three nights ago, and I haven't been able to find anything of them except my daughter's teddy bear since. But as soon as I _do_ find them," he emphasized, "you'd better fucking believe I'm gettin' the hell out of Dodge, and I'm not lookin' back."

Marvin took a breath after telling them that, then he turned away slightly and leaned against the wall, "Once I figured out that darkness seems to stop those things, I spent the first night in it, scared out of my mind almost, and I kept hearing these terrible screams coming from a warehouse just down the road a ways. I decided to leave near daybreak to see if I could find anything, but they'd locked the place up tight."

"Who did?" Dante asked him, looking back from where he'd stood at the doorway after he'd walked over to it while listening to Marvin telling his story, realizing they were in the back room of a small convenience store. Marvin's words had proved to be very interesting so far, this was the kind of information that Dante needed, and he was all up for hearing it.

"Those cultists. It's weird, they seemed to just appear out of no where one night. But there's been some creepy shit going on around this place for a while, that's why I was gonna leave when I lost my family."

Lady narrowed her brows, hearing a scratching sound at the door, and when she did, she heard Marvin telling them, "Don't worry, it's kind of creepy, but they stay at it until you leave or there's no more sound."

"That's fucked up," Lady spoke a bit uncharacteristically, but it was, to hear those things scratching at the door just outside, waiting for them. Grumbling, she turned around, "Dante, did anyone say anything to you in that bar back there?"

"Not a damned thing. It was like pulling teeth to get anyone to talk at all. They mostly avoided me."

"Yeah," Marvin replied, rolling his eyes and kicking the door, yelling, "Shutup, assholes, get over it," before he sighed as if he were annoyed at all of the scratching. The movement and the comment made Dante smirk a bit, and he turned back toward them, listening as Marvin continued, "This place used to be pretty friendly, but then there came these reports of men in black cloaks terrorizing people about a month ago, but the police didn't take it seriously. A journalist who lives out in the country on Rosecrest Road, I think it is, wrote a letter to the press not long after that and got a lot of people scared. Not long later, the chief and his wife went missing, and so did a few others, which I still haven't found, and I doubt anyone else is even looking for them anymore. But I think whatever happened to them has to do with what I heard in the warehouse that night. But to be honest, I think they're scared of outsiders because of what they're up to, whatever it is they're doing in that warehouse."

"Where's the warehouse," Dante asked, curious as hell now.

Marvin pushed himself away from the wall and he started thinking aloud, "I don't know, we're at White's Grocery, I think it's on the other side of town. It's hard as hell to travel anywhere around here at night, and during the day, the place is locked up tighter than a nun's chastity belt."

Dante had pulled his guitar case up as he turned to the door again and, without a care in the world, he said, "Then I guess it's time to sully some nun's. There _is_ one more thing I wanna know though, Marv."

"What's that?" Marvin asked, smirking at the use of the nickname.

"Why the hell aren't you one of 'em?"

Dante heard Marvin's snort of amusement, and Marvin, having found his way to the door, told Dante in reply, "I guess I'm just too smart for 'em. They've tried to convert me, but even then, it doesn't protect you from the goddamned Shadows. That's why everyone was running inside tonight. Otherwise I would've pretended to be one of them or some shit. The Shadows go away in the sunlight, kind of weird since they need light to even exist, but during the day, when the people are out, they usually just treat me indifferently. They don't really know who or what I am, and finding a person who's not a cultist in this town nowadays is like finding a needle in a haystack. It's why I haven't been able to get much done during the daylight hours, I'm only one man, and who the hell can I trust?"

"Well, now you're three," Lady informed him, "and you can trust us. Just lead us to this warehouse. We'll get in and find out what's going on."

Marvin couldn't help his relieved sigh over her words, knowing she had no idea how comforting they'd been without even meaning them to be. But instead of saying anything about it, he only asked them, "Who are you two anyway?"

"I'm Lady, that's Dante. We're devil hunters."

"Devil hunters, huh?" Marvin snorted, "I think you came to the right fucking place then."

"Damn skippy," Dante muttered. _And it's about fucking time too_, he thought with no lack of annoyance over the whole situation. While he'd found out a lot so far, he still wasn't anywhere _near_ as far along as he thought he should be.

"You guys don't have any extra clips do you?," came Marvin's curiously asked question. After all, he'd been out of ammo for a few days now.

"I do," Lady replied, "what model do ya carry?"

".45 Calibur."

"Perfect," she smirked, reaching into her satchel to grab her ammo by memory since she couldn't see very well and pulling out a clip for him, "Can't go to the police station to reload I'm guessing."

"Nope," Marvin replied, "they'll try to take me in." He took the clip from her and started loading it into his gun in the dark, having done it so many times before he could do it with his eyes shut he knew for a fact.

Shaking her head, Lady looked up toward the very dim light coming from the door they were now standing near in the room. "So, what do we do about the demon worshipers if they get in the way, Dante?"

No answer.

"Dante?"

"Betcha thought I was gone didn't you?" They heard an amused voice.

Lady rolled her eyes, "Dante, stop being immature."

Marvin had started chuckling, "Guy with a sense of humor. I like that."

"You'll like Dante's brand plenty then," Lady told him, "but be serious for a split second, would ya? They're only human, and if they get in the way, they could be a problem."

"It's doubtful," Marvin interjected, "the majority of them don't come out at night, but if they do, I'll take us through the back ways if you guys really wanna avoid them."

Dante stepped away from them and he opened his guitar case, pulling Rebellion from its hiding spot within the confines of the leather and velvet lining, "No, I want you to take the _fastest_ route, no matter _what_ we run into. We'll just shoot out lights on the way there," he added before settling Rebellion onto his back.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Marvin sighed, "I wanna get there as soon as possible."

"Well, then lead the way," Lady waved her hand, taking up the rear as Marvin nodded and started along to the door of the shop at the front. Once they reached it, Marvin unlocked it and pushed it open quietly, sticking his head out. Dante just moseyed out onto the side walk past him and looked around, aiming with one hand and shooting the nearest streetlight, then turning the other over his arm and shooting a second. For good measure, he even shot out a glowing sign across the road that currently read 'closed', and looked back. "Okay, the light's taken care of, no problem."

Marvin smirked and stepped out of the shop with Lady, then he said, "Well, right this way, I'll give ya the dime tour."


	10. From Bad to Worse

_Chapter 9 - From Bad to Worse_

With the three of them shooting out lights, Dante, Lady, and Marvin didn't have much of a problem from the Shadows. None of them said much to each other on the way to the warehouse either, unless it was Marvin pointing out a direction. When in rural areas, sometimes they'd spy the curtains to houses opening for only a moment, as if the people in their homes might've been watching the three from their own darkness, wondering who they were and possibly what they were doing.

The only hard part about it was the walk considering it was on the other side of the town. With West Springs being such a small town though, the fact that the hardest part was walking all that way told just how easy it had been with the three of them. The Shadows were never given a chance to cast themselves because of the fact that they all had guns, loaded guns that was, and Dante's ammo seemed to be infinite. Having realized that on the way, Marvin had asked him if he ever reloaded.

Dante had simply told him only when he was bored.

It was a full moon out that night, so the two human counterparts of the trio could see better outside than in, and Marvin had looked up and ahead of themselves after Dante had replied. He was, of course, about to ask Dante how that was possible, when he'd spied the remains of a body. They were currently on West Clover Street, where Marvin's brother in law, Ed, lived. Near the roadside was a corpse, one wearing clothing typical of Ed, and Marvin stopped in his tracks. The body was face down on the pavement, and Marvin glanced down with a loud sigh. "Goddamn it, Ed," he muttered.

Dante glanced over at Lady, and then watched Marvin stepping over to the body. Lady had shot the nearby streetlight out from a distance, and therefore the Shadows couldn't attack them, but apparently, someone should have done so earlier, as they'd already been through this area. "Did you know him?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, he's my wife's brother." Marvin stopped at the body, looked at the charred skin as if he'd been terribly burned in a fire, and didn't want to turn the man over in order to see his face, the look of agony that was surely etched into his features permanently. Marvin thought about it for only a moment, and then he shook his head of short brown hair once again, "Ed, if you only would've listened to me. Christ, I didn't want this to happen." Marvin started clenching his fists, turning away from the body and wondering what could have happened to his wife and child. Had this very same thing happened to them? When he found them, would they be just another couple of charred corpses?

"Hey, Marv," Dante said, walking just past him and looking back as a slight breeze picked up and brushed through his white hair and his red trench coat, "Don't torture yourself about it. Ed chose his own path, everyone does it. Your family needs you, so just concentrate on findin' them. Just because he wound up this way doesn't mean they did."

Dante didn't linger after he gave Marvin those words of wisdom, and as he began walking off, Marvin watched him, and then glanced at Lady as she came up beside of him. "I hope he's right."

"Well," Lady started, beginning to walk with Marvin, "he's not a stranger to loss himself. We both know the best thing is not to concentrate on the goal but just getting there first."

Marvin made a little smile, thinking the words over for a moment, and knowing they were both right, he'd simply forgotten them. If he wondered now what had happened to his family the way he was, he'd really work himself up into a frenzy and not do anyone, especially his family, any good. Of course, he was a cop, and had been trained to think that way when he'd been in the academy. But sometimes, especially when it involved your loved ones, you forgot exactly what you were supposed to do. "I don't wanna say anything to Dante about it, not right now, but I do wanna thank both of you somehow. If I get outta this alive, I wanna do _something_."

Lady smirked, looking over at him for a moment, then ahead again before finally saying, "You've already been a big help whether you know it or not." The words weren't spoken lightly, and they made Marvin feel better, if even only a little.

They continued on from there in silence. The road seemed long and nearly never ending, but the warehouse came up in the distance soon enough, the area nearly pitch black once Dante and Lady got done taking care of all of the lights. Marvin had a thought as they walked along toward their destination, and he told them of it, that the Shadows almost seemed to be like spotlights to something bigger, as if anyone who passed within the light of the town at night would be taken out for not following some kind of rule or whatever it might've been that they weren't doing right; perhaps a method or means for control over them. Dante's reply to that had been that he never tried to jump to conclusions because it wasn't always easy to tell what a demon was really up to, but he did agree with the whole spotlight similarity.

Stopping before the warehouse now, Dante stood there looking it over from what he could see of it, the steel walls and arched roof, noticing a bit of light coming from the cracks beneath the doors they were standing in front of, and he asked Marvin, "What the hell kind of warehouse is this anyway?"

"Just some storage space for an office building somewhere in town."

Dante walked over to the door and then tapped on it with Ivory as if he were knocking. No one made a sound, either from the outside or the inside, alerting him that either there was no one inside, or that he was about to walk into a trap. Looking back at his two comrades, Dante grabbed the doorknob, then tugged. It was stuck or locked, who was to say? So he stepped back and aimed with both of his guns, firing at the door, the light from the blasts flashing off of his face, illuminating him like a strobe light nearly, showing what he was doing as one after another, holes formed in the door around the knob itself. Once they encompassed the entire doorknob, Dante shoved his foot forward into the door and broke it down with a loud thud.

"Knock, knock."

The room inside was large, crates and boxes sitting neatly on shelf spaces, and forklifts and a few skyjacks to move large objects lined the floor. There were hanging light fixtures in rows along the ceilings, but even as the light shined down on Dante as he entered the room, no shadows were formed. "Seems pretty quiet to me," he muttered, walking inside. Lady and Marvin followed him, both of them glad to no longer be fighting in the dark for the moment, but something told all three of them that this peace and quiet wouldn't last for too long.

Heading into the middle of the large room, they all suddenly heard someone clapping, and looking up, turning their heads and aiming their guns, they saw Arias sitting on the edge of one of the forklifts, Puck perched upon his shoulder as he continuously clapped his hands together slowly as if he were giving them credit for something. Dante stepped toward him, "How the hell did I know you'd be somewhere around?"

Arias stopped clapping and smiled finally, looked over at the devil hunter, and he lifted his hand, "Of course, but if you're thinking I have anything to do with leading a cult, then no, I was actually only here to deliver them a message. They've a new leader now, and as for myself, I was clapping because of your performance. The fact that you've made it so far in this town at night is wondrous, and I'm sure you have the valorous policeman to thank for that."

"Who is this guy?" Lady asked Dante blandly, eyeing Arias through multicolored orbs that said she wasn't completely impressed or excited to meet him at all.

"You haven't introduced me!?" Arias asked, feigning a pout. "How sad. But I know _you_, Mary," he spoke pointedly, "whom I envy for being able to put a bullet in your own father. Your act inspires us all with hated fathers to press on and eventually overthrow them."

Lady sneered at the demon, "My name is _Lady_, asshole," she grumbled out at him pointedly.

"Yes, yes, and I am Arias, dear Lady, please forgive me. It's just that, well, Arkham, the old fool he was, never called you anything _but_ that, and hearing that name again and again causes a habit to form."

Dante rolled his eyes, "You knew Arkham?"

Arias snorted, "Knew him? Where do you think the whole idea for Jester came from? Alright, I'll admit, it wasn't completely me, but I suggested to him a polar opposite just to see if he'd do it."

Lady and Dante shared an annoyed glance. Marvin had no idea _what_ they were talking about, and he just remained hanging back for the moment, feeling it was the safest thing to do at this point. Dante then told Arias less than sincerely, "Thanks. Dick."

Snorting in amusement, Arias shrugged his shoulders, "The man was no complete illusionist, he lacked the skill to have been one, but he did well enough I suppose, though he could never compare to me, the one and only."

"You done jerkin' your own chain yet?" Dante asked the apparently self important demon as he stepped forward, guns in hand, waving one at him, "Cause I'm sick and tired of hearin' it."

"Ah, that's right, I forgot, you don't like people with a bigger mouth than you have, correct? Fine," Arias replied, tracing his fingers over his lips and an actual zipper formed over his mouth.

Lady groaned and she lowered her gun finally, sighing loudly, "Let's get on with it if we're going to, I'm tired of all of this monotony."

Despite the fact that Dante was very inclined to agree with her, he wanted to know something from the demon sitting just ahead of them, "I'm gonna regret asking you anything, but what the hell does Democrities want with Regan exactly, Arias? He needs the kid to undo the seal on his powers in this world, right? Why is Regan so damned important?"

Arias lifted his brows and snapped his fingers as if he'd forgotten something, and then he started mumbling words with the zipper still on his mouth. As this happened, Dante folded his arms over his chest and turned his head away from the demon, tapping his foot on the floor slightly with a bit of impatience. "Unzip your mouth, dude, we can't hear you."

Shrugging, Arias unzipped his mouth and the zipper faded away, apparently doing it for the very purpose of annoying the trio, and he smirked as he said, "The child isn't undoing any seals, she's actually needed to simply unleash his power into this world, by her blood can it rise," he rolled his eyes slightly as if even to _him_ the cheesy words were annoying, but then he went on, "as for Regan, she's somewhat of a bride to him, a conductor to carry his power forth into this world, to sustain it here. As long as he has her, his little Gateway, the transfer should go smoothly. I'll warn you as well, once the Sacrifice is taken and his power rises under her control, she won't exactly be the same woman anymore. Better get to know her now while you can. She's destined to soon be the matriarch of a higher form of military."

Dante still couldn't figure out one thing, "It still doesn't make any sense. He can release his powers into this world without some kind of conductor, so why doesn't he just do it?"

"Because he needs to remain in the underworld where he can unleash his power there on other demons who'd rise up to thwart him. He'll gain much more power down there if he has a Gateway here in which to use a portion of his energy to enslave the human world and ensure that his power grows down there in order to rise to the top. Sounds like fun, neh?"

Dante, though he didn't look it as he rolled his eyes, thought over those words for a few moments. So Democrities was not only after human domination, but also demon domination. What a greedy asshole. "Ya know, since you're so damned intent on telling us everything your dad's up to and trying to ruin his plans, why don't you just cut to the chase and introduce the two of us so I can kick his ass and get it over with?"

Arias started chuckling, "I may be a thorn in my father's side, Dante, but I'm not on _yours_ either. I'm in this for my own gain, namely the power I'm receiving for doing this on my father's behalf. I don't care whether he succeeds or doesn't, all that I care for is my own rewards, like so many other demons among us all. I apologize for my lack of a vibrant plot within this play, but therein lay what it is," he sat back slightly upon the forklift on which he was sitting, then quoting Oscar Wilde, "the world is a stage, but the play is badly cast."

"Yeah, so why don't you exit stage left, now," Dante retorted.

The retort brought a smirk to the demons lips as he lounged, then glanced black eyes back and forth between the two before him now. Then he looked at the human standing behind them, and finally tilted his head, "If you wish me to go, then perhaps I will, but not without telling you a short story." Arias cleared his throat before he went on, saying the story in the form of a poem off of the top of his head.

"There once was a man with a face made of stone.

He sought out all power for that of his own.

One day in the underworld he found where he lie,

there were three glowing lights just ahead in the sky.

In that very moment, he had a bright thought,

'Why this is the demon my daddy once fought!'

So with ambition and the lusting of power at heart,

he took off in a sprint to attack the old fart.

He left his old life and his twin brother behind,

to caring anymore he became completely blind.

So pity, my friends, to the younger brother give,

because his is a very lonely life he has to live.

For losing a mother is great burden to bare,

but let me finish this story this before you give me that glare!

You see now his whole family, the dust it has bit,

He is the last Sparda whose name does still fit!"

The last line was spoken as if informing Dante that he was pretty much assed out completely when it came to being alone, and Dante, who was tired of this, just drew up his guns. Lady followed suit and weapons began opening fire, but as soon as they did, Arias had disappeared in a shimmer of smoke. Silence ensued the gunfire, and Lady glanced at Dante for only a moment, then she said to Marvin, "Hide before it gets bad."

Marvin decided to listen to them, after all, it was apparent this person wasn't human, and the two standing before him now were the professionals here, not vice versa.

Dante looked around, trying to spot anywhere that Arias could have gone, but he didn't see the demon no matter where he looked. Lady had done the same in the opposite direction, turning her head away from Dante, and when she did, an undulation of smoke appeared between the two of them. Marvin saw it and he told them, "Between you!" As soon as he spoke, the two turned their heads when a fist came out of the smoke wafting there now and slammed into Dante's jaw, causing him to reel back before Arias moved away and out of the smoke in the blink of an eye, forming from it, slamming his shoulder into Lady's chest and knocking her across the room. As she went flying, she broke several crates, her body crashing into them with her loud grunt of pain.

Arias smirked deviously, slowly standing back up, his long black hair framing his face, hearing Dante coming in behind him quickly, and he turned and drew his own blade from his back, swiping it up against Rebellion as the silver blade came down. Arias and Dante knocked each other's swords immediately away and following the movements was a set of powerful strikes to each others weapons. Dante was aggressive where Arias's movements were a bit more elegantly placed, but Arias had speed enough to keep up with the onslaught Dante was putting him through, and when their blades met again finally, they remained locked for a moment.

"You're a little bit rusty, dude," Dante told him.

"This coming from a cocky kid with a lot to learn, gee, wonder if I should listen to him and cry a river," Arias replied with a less than offended tone of voice.

The sharp sound of metal scraping was heard when their blades were drawn around one another's. The sparks it caused, Dante's silver blade against Arias's black blade, flew away from them, and Dante told Arias, "That's not very polite, here I am trying to insult you, and you throw it back in my face. Didn't Daddy teach you any manners?"

"Oh," Arias drew back, swinging his sword down and stepping to the side quickly as Rebellion came up beside of him, "you've got some bite in you. I'm shakin' in my boots."

Lady had pushed herself back up as they fought, none too happy about the cheap blow Arias had delivered to her. Once she'd steadied herself, she got down onto one knee, and pulled Kalina Anne off of her shoulder, swinging it around. Aiming it at Arias, she knew Dante had already seen her, and she muttered to herself as she got Arias in her sights, "This has some bite, too."

Lady fired a rocket from the powerful weapon, jolting back a bit when she did. The powerful projectile flew toward the two opponents, and both of them stopped for a moment. Dante moved out of the way, using the strength in his legs to propel himself upward, and the rocket exploded just a moment later leaving behind a burst of fire and smoke all around the area where Arias had stood.

On top of a tall shelf space now, Dante looked back down as he stepped toward the edge, at the smoke resulting from the explosion apparently, watching it wafting up and around. Lady narrowed her brows and waited, pulling her guns from their holsters and holding onto them tightly while she waited to see what the result of her strike had been.

The smoke started fading away, leaving a definitely darker, black figure standing there, apparently unfazed. Arias shifted into a shimmering of black smoke as the explosion had engulfed him, and as the smoke cleared, he reformed into a solid being once again and glanced about with a sigh. Then he reached up and scratched his temple, saying, "You know, I find it somehow annoying to be shot at with a _rocket_." He turned his head to Lady, "Now I know why your father disowned you, young lady. That wasn't very nice."

Lady sneered, then she drew her guns up and began firing with the words, "Shut up," grunted out at him. But Arias disappeared once more, reappearing behind her, and he turned and drew the hilt of his sword up against the back of her head hard and swiftly, hitting her with enough force to make her see a bright light flashing before her eyes. Lady grunted and she fell forward, knocked completely unconscious. It was a cheap move on Arias's part, and he knew it, however, he couldn't be concerned right now. He had more to worry about than a simple human devilhunter with a short temper, and he wanted to make sure he could deal with it no matter what tricks he had to pull from his sleeves to do it.

Marvin, standing near by, took a step back, knowing he would be unable to do anything to help Lady with Arias so close. Turning his head, Arias looked at the human who stood there staring in his direction, and while Marvin wasn't completely showing his fear, bravely standing his ground where he was, Arias could see easily into him, and he knew the things Marvin feared, knew exactly what to show him to make him tremble.

But Arias ignored him as well.

The time in which it took to knock Lady out and for the two to share a glance was no more than the time it took for Dante to pull out Ebony and Ivory, effectively getting himself back into this by aiming the twin guns and pulling the triggers. Of course, Dante hadn't expected to hit Arias, and instead, was just tired of not having any attention, not to mention he didn't want Arias doing anymore damage to Lady than he may have already done.

"Get your ass over here!," he taunted as he pulled the triggers. "Stop being a fuckin' two timer!"

Arias moved in a shimmer of smoke, heading toward a crane as he drew Venom out and used it to cut through a cable that would make the metal hook rise into the air before he got to it. He jumped from where he'd cut the cable suddenly, a foot landing in the hook of the crane as it hauled him up to where Dante was standing atop the large shelves of various materials, and he swung around, opposite foot landing on the top of the shelf, his blade meeting that of Rebellion's.

"One day, Dante, I have the feeling we'll meet again. Tonight, though, doesn't harbor a conclusive outcome."

Dante sneered at Arias, then he let go of his two handed grip on Rebellion, using one hand instead as he swiped the sword up with that hand and used his free one to whip Ivory around from his jacket and into Arias's gut, pulling the trigger with a powerful, close range blow to the demons abdomen.

Jolting back, Arias turned and Venom moved quickly with the momentum cause by the blast Dante had just hit him with. The tip pierced the flesh of Dante's cheek, slicing it open for only a brief moment and drawing blood before the wound completely healed and nothing was left of it but that blood staining the devil hunters cheek.

Both of them fell back and away from each other, and Dante used the moment to move forward with a swift thrust of his sword, jabbing the tip through Arias in the same place he'd just shot him, eyes an icy cold that was unignorable given the completely feral look on his face. As he felt the sword moving through the body of his opponent, he jabbed it in further, causing a spattering of black blood to erupt from Arias's now black lips, his hands gripping both the blade of Rebellion as it impaled him, and the hilt of his own sword.

Slowly tilting his face up, Arias looked at Dante, a small smile slowly lighting the newly made black lips, and he asked with a bit of rasp to his tone, "You feel it, don't you? That headache starting now. Surely the blow wasn't much, but even then," he trailed off with a breathy grunt, "it was enough for a slight bit of damage."

Since Dante had no mirror, he didn't see that there was a veiny marking of black on his right cheek below his eye where the blood had trailed down his skin. Narrowing his brows, he cringed a bit, feeling a pain moving throughout his head something akin to a headache from inhaling too many chemicals through your nose, but he refused to allow his hold on Rebellion to break just yet.

"It's name is Venom," Arias choked for just a moment, "with good reason."

The pain became piercingly sharp as he'd said that, and Dante stumbled, letting Arias know that he could move now. So Arias jerked himself back and off of the blade, both devil and half devil toppling to the sides, their breathing heavy, though now that Arias had dislodged himself, he was healing up much faster than Dante was.

"I suppose with your human blood, it won't be as effective. Probably just a good hangover." Arias pushed himself up with the blade of his sword in the surface of the shelf on which he stood, and he began walking toward Dante who felt as if something were piercing his cheek now constantly and he couldn't get rid of it. Arias tilted his head to the side as he watched the pain on Dante's face, the streaking of veins covering nearly the entire right side of it, only his hand covering as he'd reached to hold his cheek. "Nevertheless, it'll give me the time I need."

Dante could barely get his eyes open now, especially his right eye, so he just used the sound of Arias's voice and went to pull out his guns. That, however, was when he felt a hard boot slamming into his shoulder, knocking him off of the side of the tall shelf on which he'd been standing and fighting, all the way to the floor below. Marvin watched from where he'd been trying to awaken Lady, heard the thud of Dante's fall, and then glanced around as he saw people emerging from the shadows, all of them wearing cloaks and hoods. Cultists, he thought. Things had just gone from bad to worse for himself.

"I bid you all adieu," Arias spoke loudly enough for Marvin to be able to hear him from where he stood. "May judgement spare you quickly to a painless death." With that, he took a bow and vanished into a puff of smoke from where he stood atop the shelf, leaving Marvin, Lady, and Dante behind with the cultists now on their backs as the robed figures drew in closer to the three to have their way with them.


	11. Empty Hole

_Chapter 10_ - Empty Hole

Clanking sounded throughout the room, the loud squeak of a thick, heavy chain, set amongst the constant chanting of the robed figures lining the edges of the room. It was the same storage facility in the warehouse, only on the opposite end of the room where the fighting between Dante and Arias had taken place only a few minutes before. On that end of the room, there was a trap door on the floor where materials were lowered for storage. Above those closed doors hung a large chain, and on the hook at the end of the chain was tied the three people who'd entered earlier, back to back to back.

Marvin, as it stood, was the only one who'd been awake as the cultists had tied them up. He'd only been able to put up so much of a fight considering the situation Dante and Lady had been in, and as things stood now, he was just as bad off as the both of them were. Marvin turned his head however when he heard a grunt and, seeing Lady slowly lifting her head, he asked her, "Hey, how ya feeling?"

Lady wasn't exactly sure _what_ was going on. All she knew is she couldn't feel the ground, and there seemed to be a very tight chain around her chest. Not to mention she couldn't feel her weapons anywhere, and she didn't like that sensation, it left her feeling almost as if she were nude and completely vulnerable.

"Not sure yet," she told the police officer before clearing her throat and shaking her head, "What's the situation?"

"Well, they've been chanting for the past few minutes and we're all tied to a big hook. They took your weapons, and I'm just waiting for the guy over there at the crank to pull the lever."

Lady's bicolored orbs peered about as Marvin said this, and she glanced down around the floor, noticing the cultists, and the one robed man at the crank to the chain supporting the three of them, his hand on the lever ready to pull it. What he was waiting for was anyone's guess. But she didn't see her weapons, and she sighed softly in annoyance.

She'd also heard a sudden snore and she narrowed her brows, looking around. "Is Dante asleep?"

Marvin shrugged a little bit, "He was knocked unconscious, he's been snoring on and off. I don't know if asleep's the right word for it or not." Marvin could actually turn his head and see Dante on the other side of himself than Lady, as Lady's back was directly against Dante's. "Hey, Dante," he tried again to move and contact the devil hunter by nudging him with his shoulder but still no such luck.. "I can't actually get to him to wake him up," Marvin explained to Lady, "I can't turn enough."

"That's not a problem," Lady replied confidently, and then she swung her head back and into Dante's, hitting the back of his head with hers. At the smack, Dante suddenly groaned and sputtered slightly as he'd been snoring again, coughing a slight bit and opening his eyes.

"What the fuck?"

Lady was just smirking coyly, and she spoke, "Welcome back to the real world Dante, your snore was annoying, sorry. How ya feeling, Geronimo?"

"I think I'm gonna puke."

At the suddenly spoken words, Marvin leaned to the side slightly as if he might've been afraid of getting vomit on him. Turning his head to look at Dante, he sighed, "Well, you'd better puke quick, maybe it'll scare some of them away."

Dante narrowed his brows and glanced down at the cultists surrounding them all. He didn't know what the hell they were saying, it sounded like Latin or something, but he guessed it didn't matter. He couldn't feel his own weapons anywhere on his body and he was still feeling sick from the poison that Arias had gotten into him earlier with his blade. Cringing a bit as another wave of nausea rolled over him suddenly, he looked straight down and saw the doors beneath them all. Having to force himself to concentrate with as queasy as he was, and yet at the same time, immensely thankful he was no longer in the pain he'd been in, Dante took a deep, long breath and he asked Lady, "What the hell are they saying?"

"Hell if I know."

"You're the one who speaks Latin."

"Yeah, and they're not exactly speaking Latin, okay?" She grumbled over the assumption he'd made, but she told him what she'd gathered from it so far. "It's some odd form of it I've never heard before, but my most logical guess is something about turning day to night and making dark things light or bright, or some shit."

"Well that makes absolutely no sense," Dante said blandly as if he'd expected it. "Sounds typical." Coughing a slight bit, feeling as if he were about to gag, he somehow got the feeling that they might've been trying to summon a demon, and so he called out to them, "Hey fucknuts, whatever douche you're about to bring into this world's gonna die a horrible death, I hope you know that."

"Dante, I'd really rather not die right now," Marvin grumbled, "They have our weapons."

"Pfft," Dante scoffed, "I know that, I can see 'em on the floor there. Hey Lady, do me a favor wouldya? Start swinging your legs with me."

"What the hell good is that gonna do?"

"I might be able to reach them if we're gonna be lowered down into whatever's down there."

"My guess is spikes, and we won't need the weapons," Marvin grumbled on a droll tone.

The comment made Dante smirk, and he asked Marvin as he began swinging his legs with Lady, "You ready to become a holy man then?"

"Haha, funny, funny," Marvin grumbled, feeling the chain swinging now as Dante and Lady put their efforts forth into it. "This is kind of fun too. Makes me wanna say wee. Or get motion sick like you. Whichever one comes first."

"You're a good guy, Marv," Dante told him before he grunted to make the chain go back his way, "I'd hate to let that sense of humor of yours go to waste. So just trust me."

"Dante, _I_ don't even trust you all the time." Lady chimed in.

"With good right," Dante smirked a bit, hearing Lady's grumble.

The cultists below had all looked up at the now swinging chain, the chanting having stopped several moments beforehand, and as they watched, a loud crash and thud could be heard below. The man standing at the cranks pulled one of the levers and the trap doors opened at that point in time. They could hear a loud growling coming from the room below, and the lever started lowering, causing the three of them to descend into the room beneath them as they swung back and forth.

The floor where their weapons rested was coming toward them, and they swung over it. As they did, Lady could suddenly see the weapons with how far they'd swung back, and as she lowered, she stuck out her legs. She missed Rebellion completely, but she just nicked Ebony and Ivory with the bottom of her bottoms, and then hit Kalina Anne dead on, knocking the weapon to the side and into the trap doors, hearing a loud metal thud a few moments later from below as it landed.

Dante's own boots had drug across the surface of the floor in time to catch Rebellion behind his shoes, straightening the blade out which caused it to scoop up both Ebony and Ivory, and they as well were knocked into the trap door. Once they'd managed to gather their weapons so they would at least have a chance below to deal with whatever was growling down there, the chain swung into the opposite side of the trap door, and suddenly jerked the three of them hard to the opposite direction.

"Fuck!," came Marvin's yell as they were suddenly tossed the other way, and when the chain hit the corner of the trap door again on the other side, a loud screech, and then a ping was heard. The chain connecting them to the world above was broken, and the three of them all went falling to the floor below, the chain that had bound them together loosening so that they could fall apart, though their hands were still cuffed behind their backs.

All three of them landed in different spots about the floor of the room, barely able to see anything in the very dim light surrounding them, but the darkness didn't stop the loud growling that seemed to surround them, though at the moment, the growling seemed somehow subdued and calculating. Marvin pushed himself onto his back and then used his cuffed arms to hoist himself up, seeing the white of Lady's shirt just a short ways from him, appearing to be a dark grey in the surrounding room, as she pushed herself onto her back.

Lady followed that movement by pushing her arms down below her bottom and then pulled them up in front of herself by pushing them around her legs, and she reached over her shoulder to grab Kalina Anne. Grunting as she pulled the heavy weapon up, she placed the chains linking the cuffs against the blade at the tip of the gun and then she drew her arms back with an upwards motion until the blade broke the chains in half and her arms flew apart.

Marvin managed to get over her way, and they heard Dante as he grunted and propelled himself upward from his own spot nearby without the use of his arms, swinging his legs into the air to do so. His back facing them, he started stretching his arms out behind himself. The metal of his handcuffs screeched and then broke, Dante's arms flying to the sides with the momentum he'd created as the cuffs broke open, and he turned to the two of them as another, louder growl sounded, bending down to grab Marvin's hands and break the cuffs on him as well.

"Thanks," Marvin told him.

"Don't thank me yet," Dante replied, finding his guns on the floor when a sudden light shone down on the three of them, blinding them for a moment as they all held their hands up in front of their faces. The blur of light that had appeared and was glowing down on the three of them now seemed to encompass the entire room, breaking off into three smaller lights, and as they did so, the comrades who were all standing up now, broken cuffs on their wrists, could see what was generating the light.

Three large, demonic fireflies that didn't appear to be giving them any sort of menacing gestures, yet only floating calmly about in the air, loomed over them. The three then broke off into three more a piece, making nine separate lights moving about the room in total, and finally allowing Dante, Marvin, and Lady to see a large, gaping hole in the wall behind the flying insects. The growl sounded again, low and rumbling, coming from that hole, and with his guns in hand, Rebellion sticking out of the floor just ahead of him, Dante just waited for it.

It happened fast. A large glow worm came out of the hole in the wall, the back of its body covered in a hard shell, the underside sectioned off along its long body, the head set with two black eyes that were lifeless and cold. As it reared back, then flung its top half forward, the entire floor shook beneath its weight, and in the glowing lights of the fireflies, shadows began to form.

The glow worm opened its mouth in a massive roar, rows of fangs lined with saliva edging its circular mouth, and Dante put his hand up as the force of the roar blew his hair back. Marvin's face had taken on a look of disbelief, especially when Dante just waved his hand and said, "Damn, someone got a tic tac? Smells like death in there."

"Well, if you need some fish bait, at least you got a bunch," Lady told Dante, pulling Kalina Anne onto her back.

Dante just grinned, then he glanced at Marvin and tossed him Ebony and Ivory. "Take care of 'em. It's time to get to work."

The Shadows were being cast now in the light of the fireflies, the only retreat from the light being very close to the glow worm, where it was much darker. The only thing visible from the glow worm was the bioluminescence of its body, and they all knew it was set up that way to drive people closer to the worm in order for the worm to consume them. Either that, or they'd be killed by the Shadows. Dante, however, didn't really care all that much.

Running toward the worm, he grabbed Rebellion on the way there and once in the shadows, he leapt into the air. Drawing Rebellion around, he turned it and came down onto the oversized worms back, jabbing the tip of it into the hard shell before he ran out of sight and into the hole in the wall where the rest of the worms body rested. As he moved, he continued drawing Rebellion across the demons back in order to irritate it, which seemed to work as it made a loud growl at him.

"What the hell is he doing!?" Marvin asked, giving Lady a look that suggested Dante was crazy.

"Playing Dare Devil, as always, help me take out the fireflies before they cast the Shadows on us." She'd pulled up her own weapon and started shooting, and Marvin looked up, and then he got the point. Dante was much more equipped to handle the glow worm by himself than the two of them. They just had to keep the shadows off of themselves until he could get rid of it.

Aiming, Marvin helped Lady to take out the fireflies with the use of the lent Ebony and Ivory, getting used to the powerful recoil in the hand guns after the first few shots, and six of the lights were taken out, leaving the two in darkness. The last three began to fly about too fast for Lady and Marvin to take aim, and they reformed in the middle once again.

"I think they're trying to multiply again," Marvin pointed out, taking aim with his new lady partner, and firing bullet after bullet at the one bright light now to get it to go out before it could split again. Once that happened, they watched the remaining firefly fall to the floor and squeal angrily.

Lady turned Kalina Anne and fired at the bug, the rocket from her weapon destroying it immediately, and Mervin just grinned at her, "Where can I get one of those?"

The question made Lady smirk at him as she stood up straight again, but she didn't have time to answer, hearing some commotion coming from their other demonic enemy.

In that moment, the glow worm began to rear up, his own body casting enough light for them to be able to see him more easily now as he seemed to get angrier and angrier because of whatever Dante might've been doing to its backside so deep in the hole, and it started to move. Lady grabbed Marvin's arm and pulled him with her as the bug crawled quickly out of the hole, roaring violently as it pulled Dante out and slung him towards the far wall.

Dante landed against the wall easily and pushed himself forward again, flipping down to the ground as the stunned glow worms body rolled onto its side, and he began to violent slice his blade into the newly exposed soft flesh of the creepy crawly.

The glow worm wasn't done yet however. It came back to its senses before Dante had the chance to completely take it down and violently jerked itself up the right way before it started to crawl around the room at a very swift pace, circling the three of them. As it circled, orbs of electricity started to shoot off of its body, towards the three comrades fighting together, and Lady yelled so that Marvin would understand how to defend himself, "Shoot 'em!"

Normally it seemed that projectiles like these could be warded off with weapons fire, and Marvin gave it a try, turning and taking aim, shooting one of the moderately paced flying orbs quickly, several times, causing it to disperse into nothingness. But even then, amidst the chaos, the cultists above weren't happy with the showing, and began to shove heavy objects down into the room on top of them. Several hard crates landed and broke, their contents which happened to be things like boxes of metal pipes and the like toppling about everywhere, and Dante rolled his eyes over the entire mess.

"Tough crowd to please," he called out to Lady.

"You're the popular one, why don't you sing 'em a song?," she asked him as she took out another electrical orb and stepped back to back to back once again with the three of them.

"I have an idea," Marvin suddenly told them, interrupting their idle chit chat, and he turned and handed Dante's weapons back to him. Dante took them after he put his sword on his back, and he watched Marvin grab the box containing the pipes from the floor. Another crate landed near them, causing Marvin to put his hand up incase something flew at him, but it was too far away, and so he just turned and then moved toward the glow worm. Waiting for it to pass quickly, he took the box and grunted as he swung it back, then tossed it forward, the heavy, round, metal objects flying out of their cardboard casing and across the room, landing on the floor and rolling toward the wall in a pretty line.

As the glow worm passed the same area again, it stepped onto the pipes, and its many legs got tangled in them, slipping and sliding on them, causing a train wreck of sorts, which made Dante and Lady both grin. "Marv, I'm buying you a beer later."

Marvin just smirked as he backed up, listening to the creatures thrashing and growling in anger, its bottom side once again exposed to them. Dante gave Lady a look, and they both knew what to do. In a showing of synchronized comradery, the two devil hunters took aim, Dante with Ebony and Ivory, and Lady with Kalina Anne, bullets flying through the body of the worm and tearing it apart as a single rocket rammed into its belly, causing the worm to let a final, loud shriek into the air before it tensed up hard, and then collapsed onto its side, a large pool of demonic blood and saliva forming from its mouth and onto the floor.

"Looks like we win," Lady smiled, hoisting her large weapon onto her back once again, then turning her head to look at Marvin with a smile. "You know, you're pretty useful in a tight situation."

"Tssh, yeah, maybe," Marvin smirked, and then he looked up, hearing a voice coming from above them. One of the cultists had leaned over the edge of the trap door they'd been lowered through, and he didn't sound happy.

"What have you done!? Do you know what you've done!?" His voice wasn't pleased one bit.

"Yeah, we know what we did, why? Does it look like we care?" Dante asked.

The man went on about how they would pay, and other such things, Dante wasn't paying any attention to him, simply aimed his gun and shot at the guy, not to kill him, but just to scare him off. It did the trick, and Dante flipped his weapon back into the holster on his chest inside of his trench coat. He then looked at Lady and sighed, "Guess we're gonna have to find another way out of here."

Lady had been about to reply when they heard a gasp from behind them. Turning to look back, they spied Marvin running across the room to where the hole in the wall was located, moving so fast that when he stopped, he slid across the floor and landed on his knees. He snatched something away from the wall that had been hanging where the jagged edged of the torn away metal jutted out and shook his head no.

Dante and Lady both moved over behind him, saw that the item he was holding was a pendant with a locket on it. Opening it up, seeing the pictures inside, the man in the image being himself, with a woman and a little girl. Marvin's hands began shaking as the realization of what the item meant set into his mind, and he held the pendant up to his forehead. Dante and Lady both knew what it'd meant as well. His wife and child had been brought here, and killed by the glow worm earlier before.

"Vanessa," came the grieving mans voice, "Linda...no..."

Dante took a silent breath deeply in through his nostrils and then he turned to the side and kept his face tilted downwards. It never mattered to him how victorious he'd been, seeing anyone who'd lost something close to them like Marvin had after a battle never let him enjoy it now matter how well he'd done. In the end, it made him feel as if he could've done much better, as it stood to reason that perhaps, if he had, Vanessa and Linda might still be alive.

This case seemed to kept getting more and more personal as time went on, and hearing Lady telling Marvin how sorry she was for his loss, he couldn't help but think of his own loss in the past, that which rivaled Marvin's.

"_Dante, run!_" The words echoed out in his mind as if he'd just heard them a few moments ago.

"Dante?"

Looking up, having actually heard his name spoken and seeing Lady, she'd placed her hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "You alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Dante just shrugged, pushing the depressing thoughts from his mind, then he went over to Marvin and put a hand on the man's shoulder. "Come on, Marv," his words were logical yet soft, "no sense hanging around this burnt out camp fire."

Marvin lifted his head, tears streaming down his cheeks, his eyes closed, and he slowly stood up, surprised he could find the stability in his legs to do so. His closed the locket in his palm, and then lowered it, placing it into his pocket. With a deep, loud sigh, he said on a hoarse voice, "I have nothing left, except an empty hole." He looked at Dante. "You've helped me tremendously though, and I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you. But they still have a hold on this town, and they might do the same thing again."

"I know," Dante told him, "my job's far from done yet. I'm just gettin' started."

Marvin gave him a nod, then he looked into the hole a bit more deeply. Lady walked up between the two men, and she took a breath, "Sometimes hole's are best used for putting things in. Maybe there's a way out at the end of this one."

"Let's get going," Dante said, starting off ahead of the two, sword on his back, and fists shoved into his pockets. For some odd reason as he walked through the tunnel with the two of them, he thought of Regan. Thinking of the other night, after their little snow date so to speak, and of what he'd just found out about her now, he only wondered if he should tell her anything, or just keep it quiet. After all, he really hadn't known the woman for very long, and so he couldn't really tell if she were acting any differently now that she usually did. But he decided he'd tell her if she began acting strangely from what he could really see with his own two eyes. There was no sense in causing needless worry with her, so he'd just keep an eye out himself.


	12. Memories

_Chapter 11 - Memories_

"This where you're staying?"

The question had come from Lady as she'd gone with Dante and Marvin to Black Wing Creek, saw the ranch coming up in the distance. Dante nodded his head in reply to Lady's question, and he glanced back at Marvin quietly. The police officer had been quiet the whole way to the Ranch, sitting in the back seat of Dante's car as it pulled through the gates of the front yard, and with good reason, Dante figured. The man had just found out he'd lost his family after all, and he had every right in the world to be as solemn and somber as he wanted to be.

It was the middle of the night, but that didn't stop the front doors from opening. As Dante got out of the car, he blinked when he felt someone grabbing him from behind, and judging from the height of said person, Dante knew it had to be Evelyn. He guessed at the moment that she was either a clingy little thing, or just really liked him a lot. Somehow he thought it was the latter option.

Getting out, Marvin looked down at the little girl as he walked around the corner of the vehicle, and seeing him, she turned her head and stared up at Dante with narrowed brows. Dante just smiled and patted the quiet girls head, then told Evelyn, "This is Marv, he's a friend of ours, gonna be staying here for a while."

Lady came around the corner as well, and she could only wonder at seeing Dante with a kid attached to his hip. It wasn't exactly a site one was prone to seeing, but she didn't comment on it in that moment since it wasn't the right place or time really. Lady knew Marvin didn't care to hear the jokes, and she was somewhat depressed over what had happened to him as well. So instead, she just looked down at the cute little girl and asked her, "Why are you up so late, Evelyn?"

That was a question Dante was curious about as well, but she didn't reply as the devil hunter hadn't thought she would, and simply turned her big blue eyes back up to Dante. Knowing how she didn't like to talk much, especially to strangers, Dante just said, "She's pretty quiet. I'll take her inside and find out what's going on."

Evelyn nodded and took Dante's hand, leading him into the retreat and Lady looked at Marvin, who held out his hand for her to go first, not so completely distraught in that moment that he was going to be an asshole to everyone around him of course. Lady smiled at him, then walked to the doors herself. She just hoped that the little girl had only been up due to a case of insomnia over what was happening around this place if anything that Dante had told Lady had been any indication, and nothing more dire or tragic that had arisen in Dante's absence.

Walking inside with Marvin, the two noticed that Dante had leaned his elbow on the front counter, his hand over the side of his face as he'd rubbed his eyes and made a groan. Doc had been in there just a moment before the two had arrived, and Evelyn was still hugging Dante's leg. Lady groaned inwardly, guessing it was, after all, something more dire that just a case of insomnia. "Shit," the devilhunter muttered before he turned around and looked at his two comrades, sighing a slow breath. "Look, I've got something to take care of, you two can find a room somewhere here, it's a lodge, so, yeah, just take a room and crash there. I'm pretty sure Regan won't give a shit."

Lady narrowed her brows, walking over to Dante, "Is everything okay? You're not acting like yourself."

"Yeah," Dante drew out, "well, I would if shit would stop going down around here like it has been. It's a long story. You'll find out in the morning, okay?" Upon Lady's nod at him, he turned and walked off, going up the stairs, leaving Lady looking in behind him before she gave a glance to Marvin and then shrugged. Evelyn looked up at the two adults as they exchanged their glances, and suddenly, Lady felt her pants leg being tugged on.

Looking down, seeing the little girl with her thumb in her mouth looking up at her with something she apparently wanted to tell her, she suddenly pulled it out and whispered, "You have pretty eyes."

The comment made Lady smile, she had a soft spot for kids, and she knelt down, looking at Evelyn on more even ground. "Thank you. And you do too. What's your name?"

"Evelyn," she whispered, then looked at Marvin, who had gone to the bottom of the steps and looked up them. She moved over to him quickly and gasped as she grabbed something that had almost fallen to the floor. The movement made Marvin look down quickly, and he realized that in his shallow pocket, his pendant had almost fallen out. Evelyn caught it though and she stood there, one hand held up with the necklace placed in it.

Smiling, taking it from her, he said, "Thanks, sweety." Then he put it in his back pocket instead so he wouldn't nearly lose it twice. He watched Evelyn give him a nod before she went over to Lady and grabbed her hand, then pulled her to the stairs, taking his hand as well as she began to lead them both up. Apparently, she wanted to take them to a room for them to stay in like a good little hostess.

The gesture made both adults smirk, and it was a welcome one, considering what they'd just put up with compared to her sweetness and innocent way of going about things. They'd let Evelyn do whatever she felt like she wanted to do.

Upstairs, the door to Regan's office had opened up, and Dante stepped inside, looking in on the woman quietly. She was sitting at her desk with a bottle of Jack Daniels next to an ashtray, and clutched between her left index and middle finger was a lit cigarette. The cigarette made Dante cringe a bit, but he supposed with what he'd just learned that Regan had every right to smoke if she wanted to. The window was open, letting a cool air in and the smoke out, probably why Regan was wearing her big, black wooly coat, and she took the bottle and drew a long drink of it straight from the glass neck, then set the beverage back down again before cringing slightly at the burn making its way down her throat.

"You didn't tell me you smoked," Dante pointed out, drawing her completely gone-out-the-window-with-the-smoke expression towards himself, and he stopped at the desk adding, "but I know why you're doing it. I guess it's just a good thing you're not crying and inconsolable."

"Yeah," she drew out softly, feeling as if these were the first words she'd said in hours, "I cried like a baby earlier actually, you missed it. And normally I don't smoke usually, but it seemed like a good reason, not to mention he did, so I thought I'd smoke one in his memory."

"Looks like you've smoked five in his memory."

"Well," Regan muttered, taking the bottle, "I wouldn't have if this shit would work. I've drank damn near half the bottle and I'm still not drunk, just warm and a slight bit buzzed." She turned her green eyes up to Dante and asked him, "You have that problem too?"

"Yeah, I drink like a fish and it usually doesn't bother me too much. I'd say my liver hates me for it, but I don't think it's hurting any."

Regan snorted, half amused, and she then offered some to Dante. Watching him take the bottle in his gloved hand and swig a good amount of the alcoholic beverage, she tapped her cigarette in the ashtray and shook her head. "He was way too young, Dante. Why the fuck do they die so young, and all the assholes live to be so fucking old?"

Dante turned and used his foot to pull a chair up closer, sitting in it and putting one leg up onto the side of the desk, shrugging his shoulders. Regan apparently had another bottle of Jack in a cabinet behind her desk, and she set it out onto the desk, giving him a slight little smirk before she pulled her hand away from it. The look caused him to smile slightly in return, and at her question, he could only shrug a bit. He had a question of his own as well, though he hated to ask it, still, it was one that needed an answer.

"How'd he die?"

Regan groaned, reaching up and rubbing her eyes. Dante let her take her time answering him, he wasn't going anywhere, and he just swigged more of his drink as he waited. He wasn't sure what Evelyn had said to him at first, had asked her to repeat it, but when she'd said that Jack was gone a second time, her innocence making it seem like, at first, she'd meant he'd just gone away on a vacation or something since she didn't completely understand death, Dante understood her much better. It hit him in a way he hadn't expected, and he couldn't help but just lean on the front counter for a few moments to collect his thoughts over it, even though he usually just acted on impulse and probably would have gone straight upstairs to find out what had happened.

Regan's voice had interrupted his thoughts however as she finally answered his question, "I don't know, Doc said it was probably just a combination of all of his wounds, but it still doesn't make any sense. I was in there earlier and he seemed to be doing just fine. He was so weak though. Maybe I'm just trying to make it seem like he should still be here instead of where he is now."

Humans _were_ weak after all, Dante thought after she'd spoken her last line, that was, they were weak physically. But when she was right, she was right. Jack didn't seem to be that bad off, had even smiled though he'd been out of it most of the time, and Dante decided in that moment that there could have been something else at play here that he likely hadn't thought of yet. This case was just annoying. Dante liked a lot of action, liked to be able to blow his way through a shitload of enemies, tear them apart, and come out covered in blood and smelling like roses on the other side. But this time around it seemed as if everyone wanted to be secretive and not let everything out into the open until it was damned near too late.

It wouldn't have surprised Dante one bit if foul play had been involved at this point. In fact, the only thing that would have surprised Dante at all would have been if Democrities ended up being a transvestite, and even _that_ wouldn't surprise him _too_ much. Pushing it all out of his head for the moment however, knowing that none of it would bring Jack back or change what had happened to him, he just downed more of his liquor, and then set the now empty bottle onto the table.

"It's natural," he told Regan once he'd gathered his thoughts together, "after all, you grew up with him, he meant a lot to you, and as far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't have minded hanging out with him during some down time. It's damned shame when people get all fucked over and they don't deserve it, just like you didn't deserve to be stabbed and damned near killed the other night."

Regan had looked up at him when he'd started speaking, and somehow, she could see a frustration on the devil hunters face that wasn't commonly there, that his arrogance usually didn't allow to be. She got the feeling that Dante was the type of guy who felt he could handle damned near anything you threw at him, and his confidence made her feel better, but now he didn't look like that, he just looked annoyed and frustrated, like everything going on was just pissing him off.

Maybe it was. She couldn't blame him for it either. But beneath that frustration, somehow she could tell he wasn't in the mode where he felt things were too overwhelming, he still felt in the game, still felt capable to handle whatever the situation threw at him, and she finally found a small smile. He'd done a shitload to help already. She started thinking in that moment that she should probably use whatever talents she'd gained the other night to help fight this, make them go for something they _weren't_ intended for, and in the process, help Dante to get this shit over with once and for all.

She stubbed out her cigarette, still smiling a bit, her new efforts in mind giving her a bit of hope and strength. Dante noticed the smile, and wondered if he'd said something to make her give him that, or if she'd just thought of something that made her feel better. Either way, he was happy for it, glad she wasn't breaking down into tears before him, because he really, seriously couldn't stand to see a woman crying. Perhaps she'd done so earlier, would again, but for now, she seemed fine, and he only hoped it'd stay that way. Shit, as far as he was concerned, right now the only people he really cared about keeping alive was herself, Evelyn, Marvin, and Doc. Seemed like the whole town was already selling their souls for a higher price, Marvin's family seeming to be proof that all of those who'd resisted were dead already.

"You're right," Regan nodded, standing up and walking around the side of her desk to sit in the other of the two chairs across from his so she could look at him and speak with him more closely. "So I wanna help do whatever I can in order to keep this shit from happening anymore. I owe it to myself if not to Jack to make sure it doesn't. This is probably gonna sound stupid, but," she took a deep breath and looked down, trying to think on how to put it without sounding corny or sadly silly and stupid, "I think it might be a good idea for me to learn a little more about what I can do now. You get what I mean?"

Dante tilted his head to the side in thought over her words, staying silent for a few moments after she'd spoken them. She was right in that she had abilities now that she previously didn't, and would probably be a big help if she learned how to use those abilities. Remembering their 'snow date' the other night and some of the things they'd said, he asked her, "So, you mean you want me to teach you how to fight?"

Regan shrugged a bit, casting her green eyes up at him. "Maybe, but only if you promise not to laugh at me whenever I fuck up royally."

"You won't fuck up royally, you probably already know how, just don't realize it yet."

Narrowing her brows, Regan pursed her lips to the side. "Well, if you mean throwing a punch, yeah, I can ball my fist and hit someone, but I've seen the kind of shit you've done, how you seem to have reflexes better than a fucking cat. I don't think I can't do that kind of shit persay."

"That's what I mean, doll," Dante shrugged, grabbed the new bottle of Jack from the desk, and pulled the cap off of it. Tossing it up and down in his hand, he tipped the bottle and drank from it, adding, "you _can_ do all of that, you just don't know it yet." Once he'd finished saying that, he quickly turned his hand and tossed the cap of the bottle right at her forehead. As the metal flew through the air, Regan just reacted and she put her hand up, catching it in her palm.

"God, what are you–," she stopped herself suddenly, narrowing her brows as she looked in her hand, at the black cap, then back up at Dante who was just smirking and staring off into space seemingly. Tilting her head to the side, giving him a droll look, she just rolled her eyes upward with a heavily inhaled breath. "Very funny. Okay, so I can catch a cap."

The smartassed remark made Dante chuckle a bit. Regan placed the cap onto the desk and as she did, Dante kicked his foot into the surface, causing the cap to go flying through the air and back into his own hand. He began tossing it up and down, glancing over at her with a lifted brow, and Regan just lifted a brow in return, mimicking him. She watched Dante as he started tossing the cap, hitting it with the side of his boot to knock it back up into the air, then with the back of his hand the palm, over to one boot again, and then the opposite before he knocked it her way once more.

Regan caught the cap again, and then she sighed and tossed it up herself, deciding to try it out with her hands first. "Would probably be easier if it was a ball."

Dante lifted his brows as if considering it, then smirked, looking back in her direction. She was right, but he didn't say anything about it at that moment. She was doing pretty good with her hands, and finally tried her feet, popping it back up into the air, a smile slowly forming across her lips, which he'd stared at for a bit too long as she hit the cap into the air. "This is kinda fun," she said, but Dante wasn't paying too much attention to her words, even as she described the clarity she felt she had now in her perception. She was too damned pretty, he thought for a moment. Damn if he didn't like that blood red hair too, kinda like icing on the cake. Images of the memories he had from the night before, behind the stables, groping her, kissing her, popped into his mind at that moment, and he would've groaned audibly over the enticing thoughts if he didn't think she'd ask him what the sound had been about.

How long had it been since he'd been with a decent woman? Of course, he'd never stooped low enough to just bang a woman he couldn't give more than a shit about, but actually going out with a woman more than once? Shit, he couldn't even remember a time when he'd really done that except maybe once or twice, and both times had really been mission related. But he had to admit, he was at least interested in seeing Regan more than once if the situation presented itself, and that was a slight bit new to him. Dante wasn't a manwhore by any means, when it came to women, he simply didn't get immensely involved very easily. A fling or two was easy of course, not always something he drove for, but he figured it could lead to something more eventually, and a fling didn't necessarily mean sex. So no, he wasn't a manwhore, but his method of, for better or worse, meeting women might've made him seem like he could be that way from time to time.

Not to mention most women he'd met that he might've had an interest in had thrown glasses of water in his face. Not literally, but close enough. Rotten luck with women? He tended to believe so, but sometimes he got lucky, kinda like winning the thousand dollar lottery when you might've rather won the million, in the end, it was still alright.

So then there was Regan. She'd bitten at him, yeah, gotten pissed as most women tended to because of his crass ways of speaking and his unwillingness to censor what he said. But apparently it hadn't scared her off to the point where she would avoid him like several women would, as now she was sitting here with him, sharing a drink and asking for advice and maybe even a little guidance. Didn't seem like a bad deal to him so far at all. Thinking of guidance, he got back to watching her hit the cap instead of staring at her attributes like he had been. She seemed to catch on quick, like he'd expected, because she had those reflexes now, that perception of thought that was so clear and unique to a demon, made one, if they had the drive, such a deadly fighter.

But he had to make this a little harder on her, watching her just hitting the cap up and down was getting boring, and if he let his lustful thoughts go any further at all, he'd probably need a good while in the bathroom alone with his hand. So he reached out to grab the cap from her, and she grabbed his wrist when he closed his fist around it.

"Hey! Give it back, I was having fun," she pouted at him.

"No, it's mine, whatcha gonna give me for it?"

Regan narrowed her brows and she got up and turned around so that her back was in the way of him being able to see his hand and she started trying to pry his fist open. Dante just chuckled, closing his fist even tighter, and Regan let go, then she walked to the side, "Fine! Ass. You can have it."

She stood there with her back facing him and folded her arms over her chest when she heard him popping the cap back and forth again. Slowly peering over her shoulder, he was standing up now, the cap flying about him with carefully placed taps from his boots and hands, and her brows narrowed as she knew what he was up to. "I know what you want me to do," she informed him, "and you suck because of it."

"You can cry me a river."

"Asshole."

"Sometimes."

Regan rolled her eyes. Then she reached out and smacked the cap in the opposite direction without warning and Dante moved after it to try and keep it in the air. The cap went flying back toward Regan and she just smacked it upwards and then started using it as a hacky sac once more, snickering about it. Finally, she batted it back his way, let him have a few taps, and while it seemed like a silly thing to be doing, it was a pretty good practice for hand and eye coordination, no matter how childish it was. Not to mention it got their minds off of more serious business taking place.

At one point, however, Dante hit the cap at Regan, and she missed. The cap smacked her in the eye, and she reached up and put her hand over it, gasping because it'd startled her.

"Ah shit, you okay?" He asked, moving over to her. She nodded her head as he put his hand on her cheek trying to get her to look at him, hoping he hadn't done her any real damage, though he had to remember she wasn't completely human anymore apparently.

"Yeah, I think so," she replied softly.

"Let me look, move your hand."

Dante pulled her hand away from her face and looked into her green eye as she glanced up at him, saw that there was nothing wrong with it, she probably just felt a slight bit of irritation in it, and then just admired the color of it. He couldn't help himself at that moment. Red hair and green eyes. Nice combination. "You've got some damned pretty green eyes, babe," he told her shamelessly.

Regan watched him as he told her that, could feel a blush rising in her cheeks over it, and so to cover it up, she suddenly shoved his arms away and gave him an irritated look, "You're such a playboy," she informed him.

Glass of water to the face. "What? I'm just dropping you a compliment, you act like you've never gotten one before."

Regan grumbled, then she just shook her head and walked back to the desk, picking the cap up off of the floor on the way and placing it back on the bottle, twisting it down. Sighing a deep breath over his words, she shrugged a bit, "I...," she drew out, "I just don't know how to take one right I guess, not to mention you sound so damned cheesy when you say it." She snickered softly, trying to ignore the fact that she'd been flattered by it actually, and she had a thought, turned around to speak it, and found him right up against her.

She guessed he hadn't forgotten about the other night either, just as she'd been about to speak to him about. Figures he'd be a fast man. At least, when he saw something he wanted.

But he didn't want her, did he?

She decided to blame it on the booze. Likely story. She hoped this wasn't going to turn out bad.

His arm had hooked around her back, and as it did, she whispered the first half of his name when he cut her off, "Don't say anything, there's nothing to say," and his lips moved to hers again like they had the night before. Also like the night before, she reciprocated in kind, brushed her lips along his and swept her tongue into his mouth. Her arms went up and around his jacket, hands planted against his shoulder blades, one moving up and into his hair, feeling the softness seeping between her fingertips. Gruff as the man might've been, his hair seemed to be nicely taken care of, even if he didn't do much of anything with it and just let it hang about his face. It made him look handsome though, so he really didn't have to do anything at all.

It felt good to be against him like this, to be held, kissed, feel that torrent of want and need combined suddenly begin to flow through her body at his closeness, unable to help a soft whimper emanating from her throat over the dizzying feelings, and to forget about her pain, about Jack, about herself. She was vulnerable. And she was sucking up this whole thing as comfort, perhaps even sympathy on Dante's part, even though he might not have been doing this for that reason. God only knew Jack's death probably hadn't effected him all _that_ much, so she doubted it was anything to do along the lines of needing comfort on his part, and she had just guessed it was nothing to do with him offering her sympathy either. She'd placed herself in a fantasy land.

Dante turned his head against hers, slanted his lips, kissing her with a good amount of skill that spoke volumes about either how many girls he'd been with, or about his skill as a person in general, perhaps a bit of both combined. He couldn't help himself when he remembered how nice it had felt to hoist her up against the wall the other evening and feel just how soft her lips were for the first time. Now he'd wanted to do it again, felt as if he almost couldn't help himself, not to mention he'd seen that look in her eyes, the very slight blush on her face before she'd moved away from him at his compliment, and he decided to, like always, risk it once again, kiss her the way he'd done before.

She hadn't changed, not that he'd expected her to, and she still felt just as soft and as warm as she had before. Still, something seemed a bit hesitant about her, about the way she was kissing him back, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Jack. She was a bit vulnerable right now, and as fast a man as he may have been from time to time, he certainly wasn't one to take advantage of a woman at all. Despite his bodies wants and needs, he slowly pulled his lips from hers, taking a slow, deep breath to collect himself, and he cleared his throat.

"Sorry, Regan."

Regan looked dumbfounded, dizzy, her hand still resting in his hair, not that he minded at all, and slowly her green eyes came open and met his azure ones. At least in that moment, she knew and understood that, no matter how prone to spontaneity he might've been, he wasn't going to force her into this, use some stupid line about 'I care about you, so let's shag', and she developed a new level of respect for him in that regard.

Taking a deep breath of her own, eyes locked on his as she discovered this in her own mind, she shook her head slowly, "It's alright, we seem to have an attraction anyway, just bad timing I guess." _Now I wanna kiss you again anyway_, she added in her own mind, her teeth biting on her lower lip suddenly as if to bar that line from coming out of her mouth. The hell'd he have to be so damned good at this for?

Fuck it. It'd felt too good, and she leaned up this time and met his lips with hers, deciding she was going to be the risk taker for once. Perhaps if she initiated it, it wouldn't be as bad. She didn't hold back either, even though he was so much taller than she was, she managed to get a good bit of force into it, her eagerness showing as she drew her teeth against his lips slightly and sucked against his tongue when he thrust it into her mouth.

She felt herself moving as he'd turned her, turning at a nicely swift pace, enough to get her a bit dizzier than she had been, and her desk began rising up beneath her, behind her. As his body loomed down over hers, she suddenly drew in her breath and had the thought that maybe she'd tempted him a bit too far, but damned if she hadn't had fun doing it. Her legs had come to part around his thighs, and when she made the gasp in her throat over the feel of his groin settling itself against hers, she felt him stopping, pulling his lips from hers for the moment. The both of them were breathing a bit heavier than normal, and she had dug her nails into the sleeves of his trench coat with her slight apprehension and heavy desire.

How close had they come so far? Regan had no idea, but there was a whole flock of butterflies in her stomach telling her she'd just taken a step toward where no virgin had gone before. She would've smiled over that thought if all of her blood had been in her brain.

"Yeah," she drew out on a husky voice, "okay, _really_ bad timing."

Dante couldn't help himself. He'd suddenly grinned over the situation, and opening her eyes, seeing the look, she grinned too, snorting in amusement with him. "Besides," she finally added, "I'm just a job, right? Just think of me as that. That work?"

Looking down at her, blood red hair pooled out over the desk top, her legs around his waist, Dante just slowly shook his head, telling her, "Not from this angle, sweetheart. But like I said, it's not as if I can't control myself." He pulled her back up, watching her face as she watched his the entire time, smiling a bit, just appreciative over his consideration of her. "So what now?" He asked.

"Hmm," she thought, looking at the still nearly full bottle, and then back at his face, "Wanna get drunk?"

Grabbing the bottle himself, he considered it, "You know we'll probably need two of these, right?"

"Yeah, well, with what we were heading toward doing, I figured one would be enough to keep us behaved," she informed him as if she'd formed the perfect tactic.

He pulled the cap back off and chugged some of the contents as she spoke, then handed it to her, asking, "The hell's the point in drinking if you're gonna behave?"

Regan had started drinking some herself, and she sputtered a bit with her laughter when he asked her that, pulling the bottle from her mouth, wiping her lips a bit with her fingers. "Hell if I know, but it beats making a bad mistake, doesn't it?"

"Cheers," he agreed, moving over to one of the chairs as she grabbed a glass so that they could drink at the same time and not have to worry about sharing a bottle. Sitting down, she poured herself some, then held up her glass in a toast toward him, ready to actually make one.

"To what?" She asked.

"To sexless, behaved drinking and," he thought, Regan waiting quietly, watching him, wondering what he was going to add to it. It was then, after a moment, that he just said one word, and she knew exactly what he meant. "Memories."

With a sigh, a nod of her head, Regan tapped her glass against the bottle, swigging the contents in it. After the Jack Daniels had burned it's way down her throat, she told him, "That's one way to get your head out of your pants."

The comment made the devil hunter grin, thinking about so many other nights when he'd done just this. To be remembered, he thought to himself for a moment, then proceeded to get himself nice and drunk, or at least, as drunk as he could anyway.

--

"The Gateway is now in place, the Sacrifice is under close watch, and our human minions grow every day. This pleases me."

The shrine was alight with the glimmering essence of the portal, the dark, stone room, which was so old it housed several cave ins in its roof tops and sides where trees and vines had grown through, lit up only by that magic pooling together in its center. Arias knelt before the portal, head bowed, black robes billowing out around him across the floor on which he knelt. His black eyes opened, his raven Puck flying to his shoulder to perch himself atop it, and Arias made a soft sigh.

"Lovely means of summarizing a plot, oh decayed one," he stood up slowly, looking up into the pool, "but yes, everything is in place, as you'd asked." He took a half bow toward the portal, keeping his eyes on it at all times as if completely wary.

"The Sacrifice worries me, however, Arias." The guttural tone coming from the portal seemed to make the room reverberate with its strength, flashes of death and decay ever present in its shimmering light. "Is she being cared for as she should be?"

"Of course. The man proved himself today. I'll have her sent away from your enemies son soon enough. As well, I'd thought it to be a nice exchange for her safety if we offered a bit of power to the one posing as her caretaker now."

There was a bit of silence. Arias simply waited for the reply, wondering just how gracious his father would be now in the face of gaining what he'd always wanted, so close he could almost reach out and touch it. Knowing the stakes against him, Democrities finally replied, "Only you may grant him _your_ power. He will need none. In the event of his failure, the Son of Sparda will make an unwittingly good caretaker for both the Gateway and the Sacrifice."

Well wasn't that just what his dear old dad would say. Grant the man part of his sons newly gained power and leave him less than suitable to stand against his own father should the need to arise. Demons really were greedy, weren't they? Arias rolled his black eyes and breathed in a deep, unamused breath. "I think not, Democrities, as you'd said, should he fail, Dante will fall into place nicely, and he will anyway. Even if he defeats us now, there is always Cruor."

The portal flashed red, and Arias held up his hand in the face of his fathers anger, a smirk lining his lips, knowing he'd hit a soft spot. The angry voice sounded from the portal, "The Harvest is yet several years away. Do not take me for a fool." At the words, the red color faded, slowly, and a last line was added, "I never believed you one to hold much faith in Merrick's abilities. What's changed your mind."

As Arias lowered his arms by his sides again, standing up straight once more, his expression faded from the victorious smirk into that of a flat line across his lips and brows. Then one black brow raised, and he replied, "Only that he has traversed in this world for far longer than you ever have."

The portal grew dead by Arias's will. Arias had nothing further to say to the demon. In the darkness now, his raven squawked, and Arias turned away from the alter he'd stood before in the overgrown shrine in which he stood, the long since fallen in ceiling giving way to the sight of stars out on the moonless night, beyond the snowy trees and branched above him and the roof. He began to walk, the smoke his robe seemed to dissipate into wafting about hit booted feet as he stepped to the front of the very old, decayed building slowly. A perfect place to bring forth a decayed demon.

Arias stopped outside of the ruined shrine and he looked up at the sky after narrowing his brows. As he did, he managed to see a shooting star, and his face, as cold and then flat as it was, turned away from the site slowly, though somehow seemed warmed by it. This was one of his chances. Revenge against his father for things lost, things he could now only remember. He had to play his cards carefully so that he could both gain the power his father had promised him, could not back out of giving him, as well as see to it that his father suffered endlessly for what he'd done to his son so long ago.

Merrick's time to pay would come later. Much later. For now, Arias concentrated all of his thoughts on Democrities and what he was going to eventually do to the bastard.


	13. Game Plan

_**Author's Note**__: This chapter contains explicit sexual scenes. If that's not your cup of tea, you might wanna skip down to the last part. Thanks! XD_

_Game Plan_

Seemed like hangovers were the most useless things in the world. All they did was ruin a perfectly good reason to drink, and whenever Regan had awoken with hers, she cussed it in her mind and would've shaken her fist if she didn't think she would've looked like a moron.

The morning brought a hangover to the both of them however, but, being the seasoned drinkers they both were, neither of them seemed to be too tremendously effected by it even if their heads throbbed like crazy, that probably being the worst part of their afflictions. Apparently, they'd both passed out on the couch in the office, and Regan, opening her eyes first, decided right then and there that about the only thing that was going to make her feel any better, besides a lot of aspirin, was a good, hot, shower. She got up from the couch with a slight, soft groan and moved to the door of the room to go take one, leaving Dante passed out and snoring loudly, a snore she was surprised she'd slept through. He could put a lumberjack to shame.

It was about fifteen minutes into her shower that Regan finally started feeling any effects of the aspirin she'd taken, and for the moment, tying to block out any thoughts of Jack's death and simply have a normal morning though it was tremendously hard for her, she started rinsing her hair of the shampoo that had been in it and sighed a soft, relaxed breath. For the moment, it was very easy for her to pretend he was just outside doing what he normally did whenever it was snowing out. That made her feel normal again, allowed her to make it without worrying too much about her overwrought emotions.

The bathroom door opened without notice. Dante walked, or slightly stumbled anyway, into the bathroom and to the toilet, unzipped his fly, and paid no heed to the occupant of the shower, planning on being in and out within a moments notice. After all, he'd done a lot of drinking last night, and now he had to piss like a race horse, aside the slight throb he had in his skull. Still, this was by far not the worst hangover he'd ever had. For a moment, he remembered his precious mop and rolled his eyes slightly.

As he took care of his personal needs, he glanced up and spied the shower curtain through the mirror over the sink, and in those few moments, let his eyes travel over the silhouette of the woman behind it. So this was where Regan had gotten off to? Oh yeah, he could _definitely_ appreciate the curves he saw, he thought for a moment before tucking himself back into his pants and zipping his fly up again.

Turning from the toilet, he had the thought to flush it and let the water get cold, a smirk lining his lips, but he heard the knobs turning and the water going off before he had the chance too. Shrugging, he started making his way back to the door and reached for the knob, hearing the shower curtain opening, which caused him to look back for a moment, brows raised. Regan stood there before him for a brief few moments, completely nude, soaked from head to foot, red hair a damp mass of strands down her shoulders, covering her two twins, and body glistening from the wetness she'd been bathing in.

She apparently didn't know he'd been in there. Dante somehow figured she might've heard him but had too much of a headache to yell at him. From the look on her face, he knew he'd guessed wrong.

_Very_ wrong.

With a startled yell, Regan grabbed the shower curtain again and pulled it shut only a short few moments after she'd opened it, but it had been long enough for Dante to see _everything_. Not only see everything, but _remember_ it. The woman definitely had a body she shouldn't be ashamed of, he thought to himself. Damn, he'd only come here to take a piss, not to get a peep show. Not that he minded. This place sure as hell had some mixed blessings attached to it.

Cussing and obscenities came from the shower the entire time she was in there, along with a single hand reaching out to grab a towel, and, pulling it back in, Regan pushed the curtain back open just a moment later, towel securely in place around her as she stepped out of the tub, and glared at Dante with a not so happy look in her green eyes.

"Why the hell are you in here!?" She asked him, towel secured in one hand, other hand free to gesture at will.

"Taking a piss and getting an eyeful, apparently," Dante replied casually, lifting a white brow.

"Oh, I see, so that makes it okay for you to just stand there and wait for me to come out? What are you, a wise guy!?"

Dante snorted, amusement evident over her remark, and he told her, "Nope, I was just leaving actually, but you decided to stop me in my tracks, beautiful." He would've winked, but somehow got the feeling she might've tried to poke his eyeball out of his head. "Besides, what kind of man would I be to know a woman's about to get out of the shower and not stop to look?"

"Oh shut up, a decent one if you want to know!," she rolled her eyes, "If you were leaving, then why are you still here?"

"Considering it's not fair."

"What's not fair?" She asked in reply, her tone as vexed as her expression was.

"That I get to see you, but you don't get to see me."

Regan didn't have to think before she replied to that, and she raised her hand up, "Oh, life is unfair, mister, I don't need any favors."

The words had a grin on Dante's face the whole time, and he turned to her completely, a playful look in his eyes that she somehow wondered if she should be scared of or not, "Come on now, babe, you can't say you wouldn't like to get a peep of me, a lot of girls do, and here I am offering it up freely, and you're playing coy."

"Dante Sparda," she decided to use his whole name angrily and treat him like a child since she hadn't tried that method of getting him to listen to her just yet, "I am _not_ playing coy! God, the aspirin was kicking in, and now it's not working anymore." She groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose with one hand.

She heard the shuffling of clothing after she'd spoken those words and opened her eyes, seeing his shirt falling to the floor. Her eyes traveled up his body quickly, across his newly bared chest, and then to his face, pulling her hand from her nose, "What are you doing!? You're not serious?"

Despite the fact that the man had an absolutely perfect chest, not a scar on him oddly enough considering what he did for a living, smooth, defined muscle lining his body, Regan couldn't make herself look at him, only at his face if anywhere, and a slight blush was lighting her cheeks. A little playful, devilish grin was tracing his own lips, and she knew the man would actually do it somehow in that moment as she looked into his icy blue eyes framed by his white bangs.

"Oh hell no," she said, moving toward the door that he stood in front of as he reached for the large, smooth belt buckle of a skull he sported. "Let me out," she demanded, reached for the door as he grabbed her wrist with a grin, and suddenly she actually found it amusing, fighting with him to get to the door as she bit her lip to keep from snickering slightly.

"Come on, sweetheart, I ain't done tryin' to impress ya yet." He chuckled softly, grabbing her arm again and turning her away from the door. She tried to move to the side, clutching her towel tightly so it wouldn't fall, and she grabbed his own hand and pushed it away quickly and then tried to move past him. He grabbed her again however and pushed her back against the wall once more.

It became a bit more serious after that, though not in a demanding kind of way, and Regan stopped smiling, saying, "Come on, let me by," somewhat softly, trying to move once more, but when she came into contact with him that time, something in her snapped. Something in Dante seemed to as well, and they both moved for one another at the same time, their lips meeting in a strong, sweet kiss that made both of them breathless for more.

Damn it, why did kissing him have to feel so fucking good? As their tongues caressed one another and stroked each other, their lips mingled together, she couldn't help but think that, his mouth slanting over hers as the wall came up behind her because of his movement toward it. Regan forgot all about the towel and put her arms around his sides. The result was the loss of the towel over the top half of her body, her breasts pressing against his own bare skin. It felt like a sudden jolt of lightening had surged up through her body, making her nipples immediately harden, and causing her to gasp in her breath quickly, turning her head away from his, suddenly breaking the kiss which had started the same way.

"Dante, wait," she whispered out, breathing heavily, and though she was mortified she'd lost the grip on her towel, she was holding onto him like a vice. Better to do thta than jerk away and let him see something. Right? She hoped so.

Dante's eyes closed. His chest heaved against hers, and a low groan sounded in the back of his throat. The feel of her against him, her breasts pressing and brushing into and against his chest coupled with the little moans he knew she probably didn't even realize she'd made had caused him to become nearly completely hard in his pants. Looked like he was going to have to spend some time alone in the very near future. She was completely soft and smooth all over it seemed, and he was never one to turn down a soft and smooth woman even though she hadn't really offered him anything.

That didn't stop him from turning his head and planting several kissing against her throat, working his way along slowly, his fingers sliding up and down her bare back, finding the edge of her towel. He heard her soft sighing in response to his actions, felt her grip loosen a little, and he pulled the garment back up for her with the thought that his attempts to relax her had worked.

As his lips moved up her smooth skin, to the shell of her ear, he said against it, "I didn't mean for that to happen, Regan."

"Neither did I, I'm sorry," she told him, pushing herself back a slight bit so she could wrap the towel back around her again before he could see her once more. He really was kind and caring it seemed even though most times he came off as a complete jackass with his ways. Realizing that now, she grew a new level of respect for him, and didn't mind stepping in closer to him to put her head on his shoulder and nuzzle his throat a slight bit, brush her own lips against his jaw.

"I guess it's just safe to say we're both really attracted to one another, huh?"

She heard his scoff, and she smirked over it, moving a slight bit to step in closer to him, and that's when she realized something. Feeling her stopping, knowing what she'd realized, Dante finally made a verbal reply to her remark.

"Yeah, enough for you to make me harder than Chinese Algebra."

She said it before she'd realized it, "Shit," and then she glanced up at his face, biting her lip, hoping she hadn't offended him. But he only looked mildly frustrated, partly amused, but even still, she somehow felt badly. Lord knew she didn't want to stop, but she also didn't want things to go all the way. It would've been very bad given the situation, wouldn't it? With a soft sigh, she nodded her head at him and whispered, "I guess there's only one thing to do then."

Dante figured she was just going to go to the door and leave him be so he could take care of himself like he was intent on doing, especially after so long without having had any attention from a woman or vice versa. He would have loved to have just thrown her onto the floor and taken her right then and there, but he had too much respect for her to have done that to her. But he was pretty surprised when she didn't walk past him like he'd expected her to, and instead, got down onto her knees and reached for his already undone belt buckle.

As his zipper came undone, he grasped her wrists, shaking his head, "What are you doing?"

"Making it better," she replied, "just let me do this for you. After everything you've done for me. I don't feel bad about it."

It sounded kinky, he thought for a second, and the promise of her soft lips rubbing up and down against what he'd always deemed his colossal prick since he was probably as well endowed as her horses outside made him even harder in his pants, but even then, he wasn't completely sure he was willing to just let her do that or not.

She'd pulled his pants open though and, unsurprising to him, he heard a gasp coming from her, deciding to lean an arm up against the wall, parting his lips to say something when she beat him to the punch line, "Looks like something I've seen in my stables, sir."

He couldn't help his smirk, replying, "Took the words right outta my mouth, cutie. You know, I don't like taking favors without giving them."

"Dante?"

"Yeah?"

"Just shut up and enjoy it," she told him on a no nonsense tone of voice. Regan had made up her mind, no matter how nicely endowed he actually was, and no matter how curiously turned on she was by the thought of actually sleeping with a man who was as large as he was, she pushed it out of her mind and leaned up only a few moments after she'd said that.

Dante breathed out lowly, eyes fixated on her the entire time, a groan on his voice coming from his throat as he felt the warmth of her smooth lips and her fingers spreading out over his impossibly hard, throbbing flesh, and his only reply was, "Yes, ma'am." After that, he made a low moan when her tongue lapped against a sensitive spot, the underside of his swollen cap, and he added on a more breathless voice, "Fuck yes, ma'am."

Hearing his moans and his pleasure made Regan feel a flock of butterflies take off in her stomach. She knew this had nothing to do with dating or with feeling attached to someone or any of that kind of junk, but somehow, to her, hearing him being pleased, and pleasing him just felt good to her, in a way almost felt right, like she _was_ attached to him after all somehow. She closed her eyes and sank more of his engorged phallus into her mouth, wondering if she'd ever be able to deep throat him. Or if any woman could for that matter.

The man was too big, wasn't he? Long, as well as thick, and somehow she could only wonder if he'd ever been able to fuck a woman without causing her some king of pain. Nevertheless, she was going to tackle this like the job it was, a big one, and make sure that he found some relief from the agitating sexual frustration she knew he'd been feeling as well as the frustration she'd been feeling herself. It had nothing to do with loving him, wanting him, or even her own needs. They were both grown adults, both attracted to one another, and she'd made a decision, plain and simple

She hoped.

Dante heard a pop of her lips smacking from the capped tip, making him moan out a bit more as she told him, "I have to say it's not a small task."

Smirking slightly, feeling her fingers encompassing him again, her lips sliding back over his hard skin, he looked down to watch her, the sight of her red head of hair moving along the length of his cock completely erotic, and he, of course, had to say something about it.

"Never had one so big, before, huh? Your fucking mouth feels so good though, keep it comin'," he reached down to push his fingers through her damp strands of hair, looking more burgundy than blood red at that moment. It did feel tremendously good to him, she might not've been an expert so to speak, but damned if he cared. "So fucking good. Mmm, suck on it, baby, ugh," he growled out when she actually did as he asked her too, and sucked hard as well, "fuck yeah, just like that. Hot, soft lips."

Damn if he wasn't driving _her_ crazy now. She had a throbbing developing between her legs from his dirty mouth, and she wondered just how far he would go with his words. For the moment, in a way, she didn't really want to find out, just because she didn't want this to go any farther than what it was. But she knew he was probably not going to last much longer the more intent she got on him, the way his muscles were tensing and clenching, and she began to speed up her pace when that happened, giving him exactly what he wanted.

"Goddamn, baby," he cussed, his voice low, breathless, and husky the entire time, "fuck," was all he could think to get out. Not a drop of blood remained in his head apparently, but even still, as if it were natural, he found himself saying, "You're gonna make me come so hard, sweetheart."

Regan slowed down, drew her thick lips along his shaft long and slow with a hard force behind her suction, and the hard lap of her tongue made Dante's fingers form into a fist in her hair. Was she trying to draw this out on purpose? Either way, he thought he could feel his knees buckle, and the warmth of her mouth just intensified the pleasurable feelings.

"Oh, fuck," he drew out long and hard, felt his orgasm sweeping through him, and clutched at the back of her head. He felt himself erupting in her mouth, hoped, since she'd offered this, she wouldn't be pissed at him for it. A typical woman probably would have been. But he was pleasantly relieved whenever she didn't seem to be upset, and took what he had to give her, the second shot also hitting her mouth in a warm splash. "Fuck yeah, Regan," he moaned again, taking several deep breaths, clutching the side of the sink in his hand so hard his fingers had turned white.

Regan didn't mind it. She couldn't say that a man coming in her mouth was her favorite thing in the world, but it didn't make her completely sick either. Though, she did usually spit, the act of swallowing it making her a bit uneasy. Once his cock had popped free of her mouth with a hard suck, took a wad of toilet paper while he recovered and did so, noticing he didn't even really see her. Regan looked up at his closed eyes, his slowly heaving chest, watched him sit on the toilet lid he'd just lowered, and she moved over to him, sitting on the floor before him, between his legs, just looking up at him while he recovered for a few minutes.

"I take it you enjoyed that," she said sarcastically, smirking a little over her joke and looking to the floor. "I just thought it might help a little."

"Help what?," he mumbled out softly, finally opening those icy blues and looking down at her for a moment.

"Well, our apparent sexual frustration. I mean, it's not like we're dating now," she grinned at looked back up at him.

"You don't go blowing random guys at your ranch all the time, do ya?"

"Hell no!" That had definitely struck a nerve. What did he think, that she was some kind of whore now? She sighed and then she stood up, adding, "I thought you understood what this was, but I guess I was wrong. Pardon me for thinking you might've had a single bone of maturity in you."

She turned to walk off when he grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his lap. "Slow down there, cutie. I didn't mean that offensively. I was trying to make a joke. I wasn't being serious."

Regan suddenly felt a bit sheepish. She looked over at him, sitting across his lap and then down a bit, "Sorry, I guess I was a little self conscious you might actually think that."

"With the way you've treated me since I got here? I doubt it. Besides, you wouldn't have pushed me away the other night outside the stables, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," she drew out, shaking her head slowly, "just not used to being so attracted to someone, well, okay, I am, but not where I care about them so much. Sadly to say. You'll probably hold _that_ over my head too, won't you?"

"Why?" He asked her seriously, "Doesn't get me anything, well, not that I can think of right now," he smirked. A slow little smile she was fighting also formed on her lips, and he liked that much better than the sad faces she'd had lately. It made him a bit grumpy to know everything that had happened since he'd been here had been caused by things he might've been able to prevent. Or that's how he felt anyway. Then there was Regan, and he figured he knew why she cared about him so much, but he also couldn't say he blamed her at all, without any kind of arrogance or cockiness on his part. He was probably what she felt might've been her only hope at this point.

But, he decided not to comment on it, and instead, changed the subject, "So, what do we do to cure _your_ sexual frustration, hmm?"

Regan blushed suddenly, a blush he hadn't entirely been expecting, and she looked at his face, then stood up pretty quickly, saying, "We don't do anything, we just–," she was then interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Anyone in there?"

Dante recognized Marvin's voice and he said, "Yeah, Marv, sorry, had to take a piss. Be right out."

"Alright, take your time."

Standing himself, getting himself zipped back up, Dante looked at Regan as she'd grabbed the robe hanging from the back of the bathroom door, and he said to her, "This isn't over," before he just opened the door up.

"But, who is...," Regan asked and then trailed off as Dante nodded his head at Marvin and then walked down the hallway. She sighed loudly, walked to the door, and then looked at the new guy. "Sorry, he didn't know I was in the shower, I'm Regan Davison, the owner of this ranch."

She walked past him so he could get in and said, "Oh, you're the one Evelyn keeps talking about. I'm Marvin Holt." He reached out for her hand and took it. "Nice to meet you finally. But, yeah," he nodded to the bathroom.

Regan smirked and nodded her head after she shook his head, stepping back from the door. "No problems, we'll talk later."

"Alright," he smiled, shutting the door behind himself. Regan blew the air out of her lips once he had, as if she were just completely confused, and she was. She had no idea who this guy was, but she sure as hell intended to find out. With a grumble, she went to go get dressed first, and then to find out what had gone on the night before when Dante had been gone.

---

Doc was serving tea in the kitchen. He had a tray, settled atop it several tea cups, and he set it onto the table, along with the kettle which he used to fill each cup. Regan took one of the cups of warm liquid and she smiled at Doc, trying to make the man feel nice, knowing that losing a son was a hard burden to bear. Marvin was sitting there, and Evelyn had taken residency in his lap. It was a nicely shiny day outside, due to the snow, not a cloud in sight for the moment, and Regan was enjoying it while it lasted; the forecast told of a blizzard coming in that night.

Dante was leaning up against the doorframe, and Lady was sitting at the table with the others, taking a cup of the tea for herself, joining in on the conversation. Evelyn had a glass of juice to drink, and she was sipping from the straw in it every now and again. It didn't take a moron to see that Marvin had taken to Evelyn, and she, in turn, had also taken to him. In some strange, perhaps sad way, it seemed to work out, and Lady smiled over it, knowing all about Evelyn now and where she'd come from, thinking that maybe they'd both be able to heal through each other.

"So," Lady started after she'd sipped her tea, "you didn't know about the town, Regan?"

"I haven't been there in a month," she said, "just the truck orders coming out here is really the only interaction I've had personally in all that time. I didn't know anything about the people there, but now that I _do_ know, I'd like to get away from here for just a little while, close the ranch down until things can get straightened out."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Marvin told her. He lifted the cup for the quiet little girl on his lap when she was done with her idle sipping and set it back on the table, watching Doc taking a seat for a moment, smirking at Evelyn when she took his hand, and then he added, "My folks used to come up here sometimes to stay at the lodge, but I've never been here myself. I'd hate to see it get destroyed because of the crap going on here lately." He censored himself for Evelyn's benefit.

"Same here," Doc piped up, "Jack would want that too."

The silver haired elder got quiet after he said that and tilted his head down. Dante, who hadn't been looking at any of them really, just staring ahead from where he stood in the doorway the whole time, glanced his piercing blue eyes over in Doc's direction quietly, listening as Doc went on, "In a way, I know he felt like this was his place too, not just yours."

"I know," Regan replied, looking over at him. "But more than this ranch, I'm concerned about Evelyn. She's the one they're really after."

"And you," Lady said, interrupting them, "You're both important. I've never heard of the Gateway or the Sacrifice before, but I'll look it up whenever I get the chance to next."

"Do you think you can find anything?" Regan asked, looking at the bi-colored eyed woman, "I mean, anything important," she amended.

"Trust me, if there's dirt to be had on it, Lady will find it," Dante spoke up finally, completely intent on the conversation despite his apparent lack of attention. "She's the bookworm, not me."

Lady snorted softly, "That's an understatement, unless it has a car or a scantily clad babe on the cover."

Regan grinned at the poke and then watched Evelyn convince Marvin to let her try some tea, smirking over the look on the girls face at the taste of the warm liquid, as if she might've preferred her juice. Marvin chuckled also, and then he looked up, "I can take Evelyn with me, somewhere safe. If you're that worried about her though, maybe it would be best to have someone come along."

"I've been caring for her," Doc told Marvin, "it wouldn't be a problem to simply keep her at my home in the mountains." He looked over at Regan then, "It's remote, not easy to find."

"For a person, Doc, but we're dealing with demons," Regan reminded him, "and I'm pretty sure they'd be able to find her no matter where she went. She's my niece though, and to be honest, I'd rather her stick with me. Though in a way I don't trust myself, not if this gets bad anyway." Regan didn't know how this was going to work, if she was going to eventually become more and more evil, if she'd be able to resist it, or what would happen to her, so she really wasn't sure who Evelyn would be the safest with. In a way she thought it would be best to take Evelyn with her, but in other ways, she also thought they might be better off splitting them up for now.

Marvin watched the woman for a moment, and then handed Evelyn her juice again when she pointed at it, "I don't know what's gonna happen, Ms Davison, but I do know that it seems like a fifty-fifty trade off. I think she'd be safe to go to Doc's home, I'd go with them, and I think she'd be safe staying with you guys. If you want, we could take her for a little while until you see how you feel, and then if things go well, you can come get her. What do you think, Dante?"

Dante sighed, turned, and decided to finally look at all of them. "I think she'd do good with you guys. I'm not really great with kids, so I'd probably be the last person that should take her myself. I also get the feeling Regan will wanna stick around here a bit probably, make sure she's got everything straight, so maybe it's a good idea if she went with you and Doc for now."

"Then it's settled," Doc nodded slowly, looking at Marvin, "We'll all go to the mountains where my home is." He gave a warm smile to Evelyn who popped the straw out of her mouth and then smiled back at him, making both men smirk at the cute little face.

"Alright, but," Marvin looked at Regan, "What about you?"

"I'm fine," Regan said, "I'll figure something out soon enough. Besides, this _is_ my home, after all. I can't just desert it," she smirked. As she spoke, Evelyn jumped off of Marvin's lap and she moved around the table and to Regan who looked down at her. She crooked her finger and Regan leaned in to hear what the little girl had to whisper to her.

"I don't want you to get hurt."

Regan couldn't help her smile, putting her arms around the girl and hugging her, kissing her cheek. "Hey, don't worry about it, Eve, I'm not gonna get hurt, and neither are you. But you get to go see Doc's horses and his house, it's really nice, you'll like it, there's lots to do, even in the snow."

Evelyn smiled as she hugged the woman, then she stood back and turned to look up at Dante. Dante stared back down at her for a moment until she asked him, "Will you be here with her?"

"Probably. I ain't goin' anywhere anyway until I get some payback."

"Okay, then you don't get hurt either." With those words, she hugged his leg, something Dante had started to get used to sort of, and scooted across the floor again and between Doc and Marvin's chairs, looking up at them like she thought they were about to leave right then.

Marvin chuckled, "Not right now, Evelyn, we're not leaving just yet. They still have a few things to take care of here first."

Doc sighed softly, nodding his head, "I have to get the funeral arrangements done." That's when a knock sounded at the front door and he looked up, "Speaking of which, I'll bet that's someone for me now." He stood up and set his now empty cup of tea down, "If you'll excuse me please." The elderly man headed to the door and past Dante, into the main lobby of the lodge, and Marvin also stood up walking to the fridge to get Evelyn some more juice to drink.

As he poured the glass for her, Lady watched him quietly, then she asked, "What about you, Marvin?"

Marvin knew what she was referring to. His own families funeral arrangements, and he shrugged, "I don't think I'll be able to get anything done until things around the town get taken care of. We were both natives, our families both live there, so it's not as if I have anyone else to contact but friends we have out of town, and all things considered, I think I'd rather leave them out of this for now."

"You gonna be okay hauling up with Doc and Evelyn for now then?"

"Just as good there as anywhere else."

Regan frowned over the words, and she opened her mouth to say something when Doc came back and said, interrupting her, "Regan, could you come help me fill out some paperwork? It's the insurance claims."

"Alright, Doc," she stood up and went to the door herself, giving Marvin a friendly smile on the way out, wanting to do something, if only that, to try and make him feel better, though she felt it was pretty futile at that point, and Evelyn became curious and took Marvin's hand, her juice in the other, and began to lead him out of the room with her. Marvin just shook his head at the little girl, but went along without a fuss. As they all left, Lady glanced up at Dante and she tilted her head slightly. Dante knew that look, and he stepped further into the kitchen, sitting in the chair Regan had previously been in which was next to Lady's.

"You don't trust someone."

Dante sighed in a deep breath at her comment, leaning back in his chair and shoving his hands into his pockets. "Not really. What about you?"

"Something feels a little strange to me as well. Could be anything though."

"I don't know," Dante shrugged, "I'm not a family guy, but something's just off about this all. Jack's death didn't feel right when I first heard about it either."

Lady nodded her head slowly, leaning her arm against the back of her chair, pushing her hair behind her ear, "Then what's your game plan, cowboy?"

"Well," Dante started, looking over at her, "I'd actually had a couple of thoughts."

"You sound like you have an idea for me in particular."

That could be if you're willing."

"If it get me a bigger split," she told him with a casual smirk.

The words made Dante cringe a slight bit, "Damn, I'm already gonna have to use what I _do_ make to pay ya back what I owe ya."

"All's fair in work and debt."

"Save it," he rolled his eyes, making his partner devil hunter grin at him.


	14. Waiting Game

_**Author's Note**__: This chapter contains explicit sexual scenes. If that's not your cup of tea, you might wanna skip the last half of the chapter. Thanks! XD_

_Waiting Game_

The arrangements had been made, things were set into motion, and all was being taken care of for the moment. Regan couldn't help but be glad. A sense of completion was finally setting over her as she saw her niece off with Doc and Marvin once they'd finished making the funeral arrangements for Jack. It took them a few days, of course, attending his funeral and doing what they knew he wanted to be done - cremated and have his ashes sprinkled over Black Wing Lake. It'd always been one of his favorite places in the world, and it was very suiting for him to have his final resting place there.

While Regan was helping Doc attend to these matters, Dante had been doing work of his own. Lady had temporarily left, information hunting, having always had an interest in the subjects of ancient cults and religions, and a habit of looking them up in libraries and the like and reading all the books she could find on them. Regan requested that she bring some books back as well, which Lady did so.

Walking back into the lobby of the ranch, a few books in hand, Lady set them down on the front desk and looked up when she heard a few footsteps heading toward the room from the hallway in the back. Seeing Dante coming through the door and then leaning against the frame, she narrowed her brows a slight bit. "What's wrong? Bored?"

"Something like that. I liked the place better when more people were here."

"Why's that?" Lady asked curiously.

With a shrug, rubbing his nose a bit, Dante simply told her, "I don't know, drinking beer and shooting cans in a bet, riding mechanical bucking bronco's, just seems like fun to me. The people were great, and I get the feeling that if I didn't have a job, a wrangler might've been right up my alley."

Lady chuckled, not looking at him as he spoke, instead, rearranging the books she'd set onto the front desk. "Well, I don't think I can disagree with that. They probably like to play a lot of poker too. But what about their taste in music?"

"Actually, most of the guys liked rock music from what I gathered, not that country crap you might think they did. Except for Ted. But everyone liked to give him shit for it."

Chuckling, Lady leaned against the desk and glanced over at him, saw him just casually looking her way. She perked up a brow and told him, "Then I guess you're right. Though I think you'd miss the city," she smirked.

"More than likely," Dante replied with a grin, then nodded his head at the books and asked her, "You find anything noteworthy?"

"Well, I did manage to find the name Democrite in two of these, so it seemed like a fitting place to start. It also mentioned something about the ancient ritual of the Gateway to bound the two worlds of Hell and Earth together, but I didn't have much of a chance to get into the details of it before I wanted to come back here. What about you, manage to squeeze any information out of anyone?"

"Not really to be honest," Dante informed her, moving away from the wall and over to the opposite side of the desk she was leaning on, putting his hands onto the surface to lean as she stood up straight. He shook his head slowly, "That town's dead as hell. People don't know anything there, every time they see you, they run like a cockroach in a flashlight, and if they do say anything to you it's pretty much just to tell you to get the fuck away from them in so many words."

"Sounds like they're all scared. You seemed to know the man in the warehouse though. Maybe he's the one pulling the strings with them?"

Arias, Dante thought for a moment, and he shook his head. "Nah, that guy's probably too executive like to bother with scaring a bunch of humans into cooperating with him or his father. We kept seeing these robed and hooded guys before you got up here though, I was hoping I might find one of them poking about, but no such luck. They're probably the grunts doing all the ruling out of fear, well, besides what that place turns into at night."

Lady could agree. With a loud sigh, seh shook her head, "They probably don't even come out until night time anyway, and probably haven't said anything to the people there. I guess it really is a dead end at that place."

"This whole damned mission's a dead end, Lady."

Snorting, Lady shook her head, "At least until we know more. So, did Evelyn leave already?"

"Yeah, about an hour ago. I've been here with Regan ever since, telling her how boring she is."

"Why is she boring?" Lady asked curiously.

"She's been filing and working in her office. Won't come out to do anything else."

"Well, life can't be all fun and games, you know?"

With a scoff, Dante told her, "It can be if you play your cards right. That's what I wanted to do, play a few games of cards."

Sighing a soft groan, Lady pursed her lips, "I think I should warn her about your card playing skills, as in you have none, so you cheat whatever chance you can get."

"I doubt she'd be much different than you, she'd probably find me out. The woman's as feisty and stubborn anyway."

Lady gave Dante a once over. She smirked after a moment and then asked him, "Are you sweet on her, Dante?" Somehow she got the feeling he might've been, just from the way he seemed to look at her from time to time, or the things he said. He also seemed to care a great deal, and maybe that was out of some kind of guilt he'd never admit to over what had happened to her, or maybe it was out of a genuine like he'd developed for her, but either way, Lady had picked up on it over the course of the past two days. She couldn't wait to see his response to her question.

"Hell no, why?"

Typical, she thought. "Could've fooled me."

"Why? Because she's a babe and I like babe's? Or were you thinking something else entirely?"

"Oh, I was just thinking you like to look at her a lot, and not in the way you look at other women. Besides, I don't see you just sticking around here knowing what's going down if you didn't like her at least a little with as bored as you're claiming to be."

Dante rolled his eyes. Lady and her damned logicalness. Dante had come to learn over the past year he'd known her that Lady, despite being a woman who could kick a lot of ass whenever she needed to, possessed a keen intellect and a patience for reading books and studying up on her missions that he'd always lacked. She could read people pretty damned well, even someone as reckless and thrill seeking as he was, sometimes to the point that he looked suicidal, Lady had pointed out to him, so he was a little annoyed that she'd picked up on the fact that he'd started having a thing for the owner of Black Wing Creek, though it didn't really surprise him.

He did have a slightly soft spot for Regan. It wasn't something he was completely used to, and it wasn't something that bothered him either. He always knew he'd had terrible luck with women, more than likely because he was a womanizer and a jackass unabashedly to boot, and not many women liked that about him. The result was a set of several flings he'd had over the years without any kind of solid relationships to show for. Not that me minded either, Dante never did like the thought of settling down much, not with just any woman anyway. He'd hoped that, if the day did come when he was ready to settle down, the woman he found to do so with was either as crazy as he was, kicked ass, or didn't mind the way he liked to do things. It wouldn't work any other way anyway.

"So what if I'm hanging around here? I don't have any leads, do I?"

"No, maybe not, but you know how to sniff out a demon even better than I do. Something could pop up out there if you'd just look around long enough."

"That's even more boring than sticking around here."

He had her there. Lady simply shrugged, "Fine, you're not sweet on Regan. I'll let it go. So, with that being said, I'll be heading out. Just make sure Regan gets these books if you would, sir bored-a-lot."

"Fine, madame nut-crunch." Dante muttered, causing Lady to snort in amusement as she headed to the door, hoisting Kalina Anne, which had been strapped to her all along, up on her back for easier carrying. Dante looked the large rocket launcher over and thought to himself how it didn't seem a woman like her would be able to use such a large gun so easily, but Lady was like a fucking surgeon with the thing. He shook his head and then went over to the books himself, shuffling through them one by one and was about to see what she'd book marked when he heard Regan coming down the stairs.

"Did Lady come by?" She asked as she headed down to the bottom of the steps, jeans, black boots, and a sky blue halter top over a white blouse with long bell sleeves. Walking over to the desk, seeing the books, she narrowed her brows as she looked them over, pushing her hair behind her ears.

"Yep, brought these for you." Dante didn't have much else to say. He started thinking about their little scene in the bathroom two days ago. After all, it wasn't like they'd had a lot of time to talk about things since then, not that he was particularly interested in talking, but he did want to see what she might've had to say in more depth over the whole situation. Not to mention that Lady had been right, and that aside, he still needed to live up to his reputation as a shameless flirt.

"Did she leave already?" Regan turned her green eyed gaze up to Dante's face, interrupting his thoughts, brows narrowed slightly and watched him nod at her. "Where did she go? The weather's getting really bad out there."

"Don't know," Dante replied, when the opposite was, in fact, the truth. He knew exactly where the woman was going, and also knew that she'd have no problem with the weather on the way there, not with _her_ bike. It'd been his suggestion as well, having asked her to simply go and keep an eye out on Doc and Marvin with the kid, make sure nothing happened to them, and Lady had agreed that it was the best idea. "Guess she just wanted to go out and look for a few more things," he finished as a slight afterthought.

"Oh, well," Regan shrugged a bit and then opened the book to the book marked page that Dante had been about to go to whenever she'd stopped him by coming down the steps. "At least she's marked a few things for me." Seeing the page, she went over to the couch and sat down, looking the words over, saying, "It mentions the Democrites."

"She told me about that," Dante informed her, walking over to the couch with her. Turning, he sat down next to her and watched her reading it.

"It says they were ancient worshipers of a dark god of chaos, one that would one day bridge the gap of the demon and the human worlds in order to bring death to an end." Regan narrowed her brows and asked, "Where the hell did she find this book at?"

"Probably the demons-r-us book store," Dante replied without missing a beat.

Regan grinned at him, casually wondering if he always had something smartassed to say like that. But she started looking through the pages again instead of commenting on it and she read out loud, "The ritual to do so was called the Gateway wherein a child was sacrificed in order to bring out this end of ends. But," Regan narrowed her brows, glancing at Dante, "that doesn't make sense. I mean, this whole thing isn't about bring and end to death."

"It is if you look at it from a demon's point of view," Dante informed her. "Demons typically don't die unless they're killed. Even then, they just kinda go back to hell. By bringing the two worlds together though, the demons that'll come outta that will probably wipe out all the humans they can, and then, well, no more humans and no more death. At least, that's probably how the stupid fucks painted the picture to the ones that worshiped them anyway."

Regan cringed over the words. "That really is pretty fucked up. And Democrities isn't a god, is he?"

"Nope," Dante shook his head, "just a schmuck with a lot of power in hell that counts for dick in the human world, just like with all those idiots down there that think they can come up with some kind of plan in order to take over the world."

"Why are they so hellbent on taking over the world anyway, Dante? I mean it seems kinda pointless if they think humans are so weak."

"Fuck if I know, don't really care either, I just know as long as they do it, I'm gonna keep kicking their asses and make a living off of it."

Regan glanced over at him when he said that and she smirked. Seemed like him to not really give a shit about a lot of things that someone might guess he would whenever it came to saving the world and whatnot. He just didn't care for details it seemed, only wanted to know what he absolutely needed to, and didn't care about anything else. In a way, she could admire that about him, but she, personally, wanted to know more on the issue if she could.

"Well, the weak are always made to serve the strong, aren't they? Maybe it has something to do with that," she mused, going back through the pages, looking for more information that might suit their purposes. "Or maybe they just think they can expand, kinda like white people taking land away from the Native's so long ago."

"You've got a point, babe."

Ignoring the endearment, having come to accept the terms that he'd probably _never_ stop calling her by those names and it was just in his nature, she stopped and said, "The Democrites would gather in their temple, which they called the Black Moon, or Sapa Hanhepi Wi to the natives of the area, in order to give worship and ironically enough, kill off those born under certain circumstances in order to bring about the end of death. It was said that these cultists were stopped when the Dark Knight Sparda exposed the dark god for what he truly was and defeated him, sealing his gathered power in this world away from him."

Regan looked back at Dante and raised her brows. Thinking about what she'd just read over the Dark Knight Sparda, she asked him, "Have you been cleaning up daddy's messes?"

Dante seemed a bit annoyed at the words, rolling his blue eyes up, "No, and I don't plan to start either, but somehow I get the feeling this won't be the last time something like this happens."

"Is it the first time?"

"Nope."

Chuckling, Regan shook her head, looking back down at the book with a soft sigh. "It doesn't say anything else about the Gateway though. The article ends there. Maybe I should try another one." She reached out to pick up another book when she found Dante reaching to grab her hand and stop her. She looked back at him and sat against the pillows again "What?"

"I'm tired of research," he told her blandly.

"But you haven't even done any."

"You've done enough all afternoon. Filing, calling people, working, now researching. You need to take a break."

"Why do I get the feeling you just want attention?"

"Because I do," he said, reaching out and pulling her into his lap without shame, smirking at her in a way that she really wished wasn't so cute. "I'm deprived, cutie."

Regan was vexed, wishing he wasn't always so damned flirty and a little bit more serious for once. "Yeah, well, I wanna know what the hell's going to happen to me."

"I told you before nothing's gonna happen to you. You don't need to worry about anything."

Regan stared at him with a concerned expression. Her brows had narrowed and she'd slowly shook her head at him, "That doesn't make me any less scared, Dante. My entire life's changed. I know it sounds really weak of me, but it's either tell you this now, or drown out my sorrows in a bottle of Jack, and I'd rather not do that. I know you're extremely cocky and confident and all, but I'm just not so sure as you."

Dante realized she was probably right. The unknown was what everyone feared, so Regan felt if she'd educated herself on the facts, she wouldn't be so scared anymore. After all, it was a terrible thing to live in fear, and though he didn't show it, Dante didn't want her to be scared either. It made him think of things in his childhood he typically didn't want to think about, but somehow he knew they might help her in the situation.

"Look," he started with a soft sigh, giving her one of those rare glances that he usually didn't make, but was completely genuine and serious at the same time. "I've been there before. Probably worse than you have it now. You just need to trust me. Those books won't tell you everything you need to know anyway, just give you a vague idea of things that could've happened before that haven't happened yet."

Regan was staring down as he told her this. It was in that moment that she closed her eyes and sighed a deep breath. She honestly felt like she might cry, and was trying to stop those urges before they could start. She felt so scared and uncertain inside that she couldn't see straight. What was going to happen? Was she going to become a monster? Would it happen soon? Or a year from now? Or...

She felt a hand against her cheek. Dante had watched her expression slowly get worse and worse, and he tilted her face toward his, causing her to open her somewhat misty eyes and look at him. She could see the cocky attitude through his little smirk still in place on his nicely handsome features, his persistent confident nature which never seemed to be bothered, and somehow, just looking at him then, made her feel a shitload better than she had just a moment ago. With a sigh, she reached up and put her hand on his, still resting against her cheek, and she muttered, "Dante..."

She was silenced when he just leaned in and kissed her, and she didn't fight it off. Instead, she made a soft moan and leaned into the kiss. Her arms wound around his neck slowly, and she felt his own going around her sides. Something was happening between them. It was like the other day, the way she felt when she was, well, servicing him to be blunt about it, and she was starting to get the feeling it wasn't just some thing where she felt appreciative of him, grateful to him, and needed some kind of distraction and nothing more.

Apparently she just couldn't look at this as no strings attached and she got the feeling he wouldn't like that.

Damned if he wasn't a good kisser though. He really was, and she couldn't bare any logical thought, let alone decide what this kiss was. Her tongue was meeting his with willingness and he was fairly demanding with his own swipes into her mouth, not to mention skilled and very precise. Damned if she wasn't completely lost, not even caring when he laid her back across the couch, moved over her just slightly, her legs still draped over his, and let his hand wander up and over her breast.

He felt her tense when his hand did that, cupped her breast and lifted it a bit, heard her deep intake of breath. The reaction was fairly vivid, and he could feel a twitching in his pants that he knew meant he was about to stand to attention again pretty soon. She'd taken his wrist in her hand, but she wasn't pulling it away, so he moved it to the hem of her shirt, and pressed his fingers just beneath it. Her heart started hammering a mile a minute as his fingers started tracing and trailing a path up her soft skin, to her ribs, then her bra. She couldn't help a whimper against his lips when she knew what he was about to do.

That's when a loud crash sounded outside. It stopped the both of them in their tracks, the lights flickering out. In the silence that pursued from the darkness encompassing them and the heater having died down, both of them sat back up slowly and heard the loudly whipping wind outside the lodge as if there might've been demons in the storm itself, and they both knew a tree branch must've fallen down outside onto one of the power lines.

"That sounds like one helluva storm," Dante told her, and even though he couldn't see her, he leaned back in and kissed her again, "good thing we're not alone, huh?"

There was a playfulness to his voice, and Regan grumbled about it, "Dante, I think maybe we should stop," she replied, scooting up and off of his lap as the lights came back on. Seeing her standing there, he narrowed his brows, watching her tugging her shirt back into place, easily able to see the stiffened nipples she was sporting peaking through her shirt. "Besides," she continued, "I need to go make sure nothing's really broken."

"Why should we stop?" He asked. "It's not like you can't come back and let us continue, ya know?"

"Because," Regan snapped, then she sighed and tried to calm herself down, "it's not right, I'm not interested in casual, random flings, Dante. I don't care how good it felt, it's not gonna help us any."

"It'll help me plenty. Probably make you less uptight too. Besides, I told you this wasn't over, and I meant it."

"Dante," Regan grumbled, grabbing her coat from the hanger near the door, "don't start with that right now." She opened the door and had to catch it when the wind caught it. "I already said you didn't have to do anything about that." With those words, she shut the front door and went outside to have a look around for a few minutes.

While she was gone, Dante rolled his eyes and then stood up, moving to the door to peak out of the windows on it. It was snowing like they were in the antarctic outside, and he couldn't see shit beyond a few feet off of the front porch, hoping the woman had the sense not to wander off too far in this kind of mess. She was probably just sticking to the front porch though, and for a moment, Dante wondered, since the weather had gotten worse after Lady's departure, if she really _would_ be alright out there.

But she'd looked fine, had been bundled up, and she'd been through worse shit and come out smelling like roses before anyway. Dante just let go of the drapes over the front door windows and leaned against the wall beside the door. His mind went back to Regan and how she was so damned adamant about not doing too much of anything, but how she seemed to enjoy it whenever they did do something. And he had to admit, the kiss they'd just shared was definitely better than most of the ones he'd given to other women, like it meant more, wasn't just a, well, wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am kind of deal that one of those kisses were used to initiate.

He liked it and he wasn't sure why. Change of pace maybe, or perhaps it was just a refreshing relief from the shitville he'd come into ever since he'd started this mission. Another side of him though said it was because while he liked being the guy that most girls fawned over, yet could never catch, he also liked the thought of girls not being able to catch him because he had a hot redheaded chick on his arm. He'd thought about their similarities, he and Regan _did_ have a few things in common after all, and aside from her sparky temper, hell, he had one too sometimes, she was pretty damned likeable.

He thought it was safe to say that he didn't have a problem with becoming exclusive just to see what the big deal was. If he didn't like it, he could always just tell her. Though he got the feeling somehow that she knew he wasn't a guy who liked to commit, and that's more than likely why she was pushing him away. So he'd just continue to play that card for a bit and see what happened.

Whenever Regan opened the door and came back in though, covered in snow and dusting herself off, he took her arm as soon as she'd removed the coat and pulled her toward himself so quickly that she dropped her coat onto the floor, blinking up at him as he anchored her to himself with his arms.

"So what's so wrong with me returning favors, sweetheart? You get what you give after all."

Regan could feel butterflies taking off in her stomach as she stared up into his piercing blues, wondering if there was something in specific he was trying to do here aside from initiate more physical activities, and she shoved herself way away from him, shaking her head, "Damn it, look, I don't want to get involved okay?"

"Who said anything about getting involved, cutie, I'm not talking about any strings attached."

Walking away from him and to the steps, she narrowed her brows and glanced back in his direction, then she shook her head slowly, "I'm not that kind of girl either. I," she paused for a moment and then she sighed a deep breath, "I think I made a mistake the other day, I mean I don't regret it, but it's also not me to just do that for someone on a continuous basis. It'll be bad if I let something else like that happen." Shaking her head, she turned to go up the steps, saying as she moved up them, "I'm going to go get some sleep. This is just going to have to be a big waiting game between us. If that makes you mad, I'm sorry, but I can't just do things on a whim like Dante Sparda apparently can."

She disappeared from sight after that. Dante pursed his lips to the side and raised a brow. So, he'd been right - she didn't want to just get intimate, she had bigger feelings for him than that - and he was reminded of his old belief that he just didn't have any good luck at all with women. Still, he usually got what he wanted for better or for worse. Usually it was for worse. There was a warning sign going up here.

The sign made Dante grin. Risk taker? Damn straight. After all, at least then he could tell Lady he'd given a relationship a chance and she could no longer call him a complete manwhore. He pushed himself away from the wall and began to head toward the steps.

Moving up them, he whistled a slight bit, just thinking, and finally saying, "Waiting game, huh? Well, let the games begin."

---

And so it had.

Regan laid on a soft mattress she had that she only pulled out on very cold nights like this when it was freezing cold outside, pillows piled up around her, a warm chenille blanket across her legs, and a fire burning next to her in the hearth of her bedroom. She pulled the strap of her white nightgown up her shoulder and pushed her red hair behind her back, unable to sleep, only able to dream.

She couldn't help it. The morning in the bathroom with Dante, she just couldn't get it out of her head. Now it was about one o'clock in the morning and she just couldn't sleep. Just a short few minutes earlier she'd been trembling with her thoughts of what had happened, and it hadn't been because of the cold. Just remembering what they'd done had gotten her aroused again, and she sighed a deep, long breath and turned her head, glancing over at the door. It'd been this way for the past day or two now, and she also kept thinking about the events on the couch a few hours ago, wondering what might've been going on outside of her bedroom.

Outside of it, and just down the hallway, Dante lay in his own bed and looked up at the ceiling, one arm propped up behind him, the other resting on his upper abdomen. While he'd been a bit less effected by the thoughts of the woman he'd been sharing this lodge with for the time being, as in, when he thought back on it now, it hadn't done quite as much to arouse him as it'd done to Regan, it still gave him reason enough to want to get up and leave his room to go and finish the job off. He could feel that stirring of need that every man had in him, amplified by the demonic blood running through his veins, making him feel, for lack of a better way to put it, hot and bothered, and now, he was ready to sate his lusts.

Dante turned his eyes to the door slowly, his hair fanned over his forehead, split just by his eyes so that he could see it.

Regan had turned her face away from the door. No fucking way in hell could she just stand up and go to his room. What would she say? 'Hi Dante, I'm full of shit and we didn't finish what we started, let's get it on.' Yeah, that'd blow over _real_ great with _his_ ego. Not to mention she just wasn't like that. As nervous as she was over the whole thing to begin with, no matter how much she really wanted it, she couldn't bring herself to even grab her doorknob. But she'd been up and to her door several times now.

Maybe she'd come up with an excuse. But what?

He could come up with an excuse, Dante thought to himself. Hell, it was cold as a wet dog in Antarctica outside, maybe he could go see how her nipples were faring since the heater had never come back on, apparently needed a new fuse since the power had been tripped. The thought made a large smirk tug at the corners of his lips. What a pretty chest though, he thought to himself. He wondered what they would look like cold and aching, ready to be soothed and comforted by a nice hot mouth and a hungry tongue. But yeah, he was sure _that'd_ blow over _real_ well, especially with _her_ temper.

_Damn_ he had to find a reason to get up and go in there.

The man could be such an ass, she thought to herself, pacing back and forth now, suddenly stumbling because she'd developed a cramp in her calve from the cold. Cussing, Regan sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her leg up slowly to try and rub the uncomfortable spot out. Looking down at the pallet, she continued her line of thought after the pain had subsided, and considered how much of an ass he was. What would he think of it? Just another conquest. In fact, the events of earlier probably hadn't even effected him at all. He was probably sound asleep right now, or getting there with the gloating thoughts in his mind of everything they'd done together so far. She had no business even _considering_ sleeping with a man like him. Nope, she was just being a dumb, young, inexperienced woman with a few hot thoughts of an erotic encounter in her mind from earlier, that was all.

She could be a real pain when she wanted to be. Dante rolled onto his side, back facing the door, trying to forget everything he could about the voluptuous, red headed female laying in her room, probably sound asleep now without a care in the world to what they'd done earlier, either too worried about other things going on, or cussing herself for even allowing it to happen. Maybe even both knowing how _some_ women were. Besides, she was his mission. He had no business chasing after a woman like that. She wasn't fair play, she was just a job, that was it.

It didn't matter, Regan thought, how good looking, respectable, in his own way anyway, confident, or even sometimes charming he could be.

It didn't matter, Dante thought, how hot, determined, though that was a pain sometimes too, bad assed, or fun she could be.

He was a womanizer.

She was temperamental.

He was crass.

She was pushy.

He was an ass.

She was a bitch.

Both of them found themselves standing at their doors.

With a sigh, one of indignation, the other of anticipation, their doorknobs turned and their doors opened. Dante heard the door down the hallway opening and he stopped for a moment, listening when he heard footsteps. They stopped for a moment, and then started again, growing fainter and fainter down the hallway. So he stuck his head around the corner and looked, heard the bathroom door opening just down the way and shutting again.

Well, at least now he knew she was awake.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Regan chastised herself aloud. She paced in the bathroom quietly and then stopped at the sink, looking herself over in the mirror. Feeling as if she looked fine, she decided to pull the brush through her hair a few times, curling her toes a bit against the floor because of the cold about, and wished she could find her damned bedroom shoes for Christ's sakes. The wooly socks she was wearing weren't enough, and once she was finished brushing her hair, she set the brush next to the sink again and hurried to the door. Her feet were damned near freezing by this time. Damned heater for breaking down, she thought to herself.

She'd initially thought to go to Dante's room, having come up with the idea that she'd lie and say she thought she'd heard something. But when she'd left her room, she'd hesitated and went to the bathroom quickly in order to make sure she looked okay. But once she got in there, she'd started calling herself stupid, having thought that if she'd put some make up on, or did _anything_ out of the ordinary for one o'clock in the morning, he would've _known_ something was up outside of what she'd originally planned to say. So she'd just decided to brush her hair since she was in there and then went to the door, opening the knob before heading down the hallway once again.

_Go to his room, go to his room_, she told herself even as she turned to go back into her own, and she shut the door before looking up, somewhat disappointed in herself though she was surprised to see Dante standing there across from her. The suddenness of seeing him so unexpectedly caused her to jump a little, and her hand flew up to her chest as she took a deep breath, "Dante? What are you doing in here?"

"I heard you walking around, thought I'd see what was wrong. Midnight bathroom break?"

"Something like that," she replied, "I'm okay if that's what you mean. What about you? Just being a night owl?"

"Something like that," he replied after a moment of hesitation.

Regan lifted her brows as if she understood him, nodded slowly before she went to walk over to her pallet on the floor, though she didn't sit down, and she turned to face him, brows narrowed, "You weren't making any noise earlier, were you?" She asked him. The question had stemmed from the lie she'd originally thought to use against him to be able to go to his room, but she thought it would come in handy now if only to make some conversation between them for the moment, something to talk about _aside_ from the things that had happened between them so far.

"No," he shook his head. "Why, did you hear something?"

Regan shrugged, grabbing the strap of the flimsy white nightgown that she wore which kept trying to fall off of her shoulder, something he'd noticed and appreciated immensely with how the material seemed to hug her feminine curves in all of the right places. "I thought I did," she replied, "but it could've just been the wind, it's been sounding kind of creepy tonight." That in itself wasn't a lie. It kept whipping passed the lodge making odd noises with the newly falling snow again.

Dante just nodded, asking, "Scare ya?"

"No," she shook her head, "just wasn't sure what it was."

"You look scared to me."

"I do?" She asked him, confusion evident on her face.

"Definitely."

Regan lifted her brow at him. The conversation was running dry quickly, and they both knew why. "Okay, look," Regan started suddenly just to keep him from saying anything else, "if you're thinking I'm embarrassed about everything and maybe scared of what might happen now then that's not true, I'm not scared." She'd said that even though she was thinking _I'm completely petrified_.

"You're not, huh?" Dante asked, taking a step toward her.

"No," she forced out as hard as she could to get him to believe her. "I just don't want anything else to happen. I mean, we're both kind of vulnerable right now, aren't we? And it's not a good thing, it's not the right time. I don't want to make a mistake." She'd started backing away from him, staring right at his face as he came toward her, that look that she couldn't break her green eyes away from as he closed in on her, "Stop looking at me like that," she added.

"Like what?"

"Like _that_," she pointed out, "like you want to pounce me."

"I'm not going to pounce you," he replied, a smirk tugging at his lips that was charming in itself. "I just wanna touch you."

"You do?" She nearly whispered the question, still slowly backing away from him, sounding just a bit breathless, and completely thoughtless.

"Damn straight."

"Dante, just, ah!," she yelled when her bared back in the low cut nightgown came into contact with the cold glass of the window behind her, causing her to move forward into him as he neared her, and then she jumped again with another yell, "oh god!," before she slithered away to the side quickly to get away from him, but not before he'd grabbed her and pulled her back to him.

"Damn, calm down, doll, you act like a nervous virgin."

Regan narrowed her brows at him over the statement. Then she shook her head slowly, still pulling away from him a little bit even with the hold he had on her, "Why wouldn't I?"

Finally, it was Dante's turn to be a bit confused. "Why _would_ you?"

"Um, eh heh," she mockingly chuckled aloud, "maybe because I _am_ one?"

The words made Dante be quiet for just a moment. No way. "Wait a second, I thought you'd said you had flings when we went on that horse ride."

Knowing now what he thought about that, Regan rolled her eyes up and to the side slightly, turning her head away a bit with some slight annoyance. "Dante, I can say flings and not mean sex, they were _dates_," she enunciated for him, "not one night stands, dates."

"Well shit," he started, looking her face over, finally giving her that smile she was dreading to see, the one that said he probably had a multitude of dirty thoughts running through his mind, "I've got a virgin mare on the farm."

"Jesus Christ!," Regan exclaimed, pulling back as hard as she could, even though he stubbornly refused to let her go anywhere. She honestly wanted to get away from him if for only being able to get her blanket over her shoulders because she was freezing and her shaking body and chattering teeth showed it.

Not to mention her pert nipples, straining against the fabric of her nightgown, Dante thought to himself without an ounce of shame anywhere in him.

But either way, Regan broke through his thoughts saying, "You've got a virgin nothing, let go, it's cold!"

When she spoke those words, Dante leaned down and covered her mouth with his, pulling her tightly against his own clothed body, having declined to remove a lot of his clothing because of the cold weather about and the lack of a decent heater. Regan gasped at the initial touch of his lips and grabbed his shoulders, but she couldn't fight off that kind of onslaught long, and eventually gave into it, pulling herself against him willingly and snaking her arms around his shoulders.

As his tongue rolled along in her mouth, rubbing against her own, she made a weak whimper in the back of her throat, feeling the temperature rising in the room slowly but undeniably. Her heart had started pounding, and her own tongue shamelessly rubbed back into his, until the kiss slowly broke with a tugged lip popping back against her teeth from his. She shuddered at the treatment, would've remembered doing the same to him the first time they'd _really_ kissed if it hadn't been for the lack of blood in her brain at that moment. Dante parted open his eyes to watch the thick lip bouncing just a slight bit before he told her, "I can fix that, you know?," his voice a bit low and gruff.

"Fix what?" She asked in a whisper.

"How cold it is."

Regan opened her own eyes to stare back up into his, a bit of light glinting in the deep green orbs, and she had apparently retained enough of her mind in that moment to whisper back to him, "Then why don't you get your ass to the tool shed and go down there and fix the heater then, huh?"

A mischevious grin had settled on her lips, having forgotten for the moment her nerves and agitation at the handsome and charmingly annoying devil hunter standing before her now, holding her so close to himself and rubbing her cold lower back idly.

"Funny, funny, you'll be singing a different tune when I fix it with the tools I got at birth," he retorted without having to think about it.

Regan's smile didn't falter, but a blush did light her cheeks as she tilted her head down slightly and away from him, a bit afraid to look at him. With a sigh, she parted her lips to speak, "I meant what I said about making mistakes, Dante. I don't want to do anything if it's out of some kind of effort for comfort or just something self gratifying. If I do anything, I want it to be because we want to do it, because we know nothing bad will happen because of it, you know?" She finally turned her face back up to his to see what he thought.

Dante could understand that, he'd just been thinking the same thing in his room, she was a mission, and he shouldn't get involved more than likely, though he did like the risk. While getting involved with the woman was another story altogether, Dante knew that sex was close enough to it, and sometimes things came out of it that you didn't first count on, he wasn't an idiot by far. But he told her, "Regan, if I sleep with you, it's because I want you, I'm not doing it to comfort you or get comfort. If I wanted that, I'd go raid the fridge for more of the sundaes down there."

"Too cold for that," she smirked, "maybe some pizza?"

"Sounds good," he replied, realizing in that moment that, considering she was a virgin, she'd probably need some kind of comfort any way it went. He doubted she was just going to spread her legs and accept it easily, and he wasn't going to make her do that either. So when she gave him the shy little smirk that he knew was her attempt, however slight it may have been, at bravery, he replied and then lifted his hand to her cheek and brushed his thumb over her lips, adding, "But later, I'm more interested in this right now."

That blush crept back onto her cheeks and she bit her bottom lip, knowing she was more interested in the same right now as well. She kept thinking, knew she shouldn't have been, but she was getting nervous, and for once, she didn't have any kind of comment to give him. Instead, she reached up and took his hand, gently pulling it away from her cheek, turning her face away from him. Dante felt her trying to step back, and he allowed her to, but only so that he could put his hand on her side and turn her around.

Regan blinked when he did that, lifted his leg up, causing the limb to move between hers. The movement made her gasp slightly, and he settled his knee against the wall, his hands moving against her hips. She felt herself being lifted up and her heart immediately started slamming in her chest. Her teeth had begun chattering again, and she felt him pressing her forward, his mouth trailing along her shoulder slowly. The problem was that the window was right in front of her, and the cold glass touched her skin, her breasts, and she put her hands up and pushed back against him.

"Dante, stop it, the window's freezing!"

When she pushed back, her ass moved along his leg and into his groin nicely, and Dante just reacted by pushing his own hips into hers again. The cold glass came into contact with her chest once more, making her gasp and push back again. This motion continued and a rocking of their hips grinding into one another's started, her nightgown riding up her long, slender legs, and her nipples had started aching painfully because of the cold, his hands holding onto her hips as they rocked. Regan realized though that the friction that had started between her legs was more than enough to get her to forget exactly _why_ she was pushing back against him. She gasped over it, over the freezing touch of the glass against her breasts, and pressed her hips harder into his, forgetting reason and embarrassment, her lips parting with a heavy breath. She was trembling from more than just the cold now.

Dante had made a soft groan as he ground himself into her, giving her a promise with each slow ride of his hips upwards, his arms snaking more tightly around her. But even with the completely hot movements of their hips, Dante could still feel her shaking with the cold, her hand as she grabbed one of his wrists, was like ice, and he asked her, "Want away from there?"

"Y-yes," she stuttered, "please st-stop."

"Then admit it feels good."

Regan groaned, the slow grinding continuing as her nightgown had raised all the way up, revealing her soft ass, the thin covering of panty she wore doing little to protect her from the activities they were engaging in, and Regan gasped out her breath, "It does, but it's so damned cold."

Her head was spinning with the blood flowing through her so quickly as Dante took mercy on her and turned her back around, moving her up against the mattress she'd laid out on the floor in order to be closer to the fire. Sinking to his knees behind her, Regan doing the same as his arms had moved around her sides and pulled her down, Dante was about to order her to turn around when she did so without asking and pulled herself up against him for warmth.

"If you ever do that again, I'm gonna shove ice cubes down your pants," she grumbled.

The threat made Dante smirk, and he reached up to the strap of her nightgown and pushed it down her shoulder again, replying as he drug his fingers around the swell of her breast, "Yeah, maybe I deserve it, but it got me what I wanted."

"What's that?" She asked, burying her forehead against his shoulder as he revealed one of her aching breasts, brushed his thumb over the hard skin of her nipple.

"A real reason to make you burn," he replied against the smooth expanse of her throat that his lips were trailing down as he leaned her back, letting his mouth brush across her breast and to her nipple.

Regan's breathing picked up, he felt her tensing as his lips brushed the areola and then the hardened nipple, opening around it, giving it the warmth it so needed, and Regan pushed her fingers into his hair, her eyes squeezing shut. Her mouth remained open as the sensations from his hot tongue trailed around in circles over her sensitive skin, making it completely hard for an entirely different reason, and slowly, she let her head fall back. Her legs were parted around one of his, and she felt him shifting slightly, pulling the other breast free of the flimsy garment she wore which had been completely fine considering the way she'd been bundled up a little while ago. His mouth left the first nipple and then moved to the other, giving it the same attention, all the while listening to her excited breathing.

"Like that, baby?" he asked her, sliding his mouth up and along her throat, feeling her grip tighten around his back as her lips drew such quick breaths. He kissed those lips once and asked her, "Hmm?"

"Yeah," she drew out a bit dumbly, and felt him tilting her back so that she was laying against the mattress, leaning over her and removing his coat as he looked down at her. Regan opened her eyes as he did that, and she felt another lump forming in her throat as they roamed over him, down to her legs, one of which was draped over his thigh, leg bent at the knee beneath it, the other stuck between them. At that moment, he threw his trench coat to the side so he wouldn't have to fool with it, and then reached down and pulled his shirt off.

His sinuous chest coming into view, Regan made a mindless sigh, reaching up as he finally leaned over her again, parting her lips and speaking at the same time he did. She bit her lip and he got quiet for her. When no one volunteered to go first, Regan moved her leg up against his hip and closed her eyes as his hand traveled down the smooth expanse of skin and to her ass, remembering how big his hands had seemed to be, and moaning softly over the way it felt.

"Tell me how far you've gone before, Regan," Dante implored of her when he touched her leg, let his fingers trail across her skin, forming a line of goosebumps in their wake.

Regan slowly let her own fingers tentatively trail up his chest, her green eyes opening to look up at him as she murmured out, "Not far. Just a few cops and feels, nothing extreme."

Dante's hand wandered over her hip as she spoke, fingers hooking into her panties, and a slight tug was given. Regan pushed her hands along his shoulders and took a deep breath to try and keep her mind straight, but damn if it was working.

"Then was the couch the farthest you've gone?"

After he'd asked her that, he'd moved his leg from between hers and tugged her panties down her thigh, and started kissing her throat. Regan arched her back up slightly, her breasts brushing against his chest as her panties were pulled away from her crotch, trying to remember the answer to his question as she got out, "Yes." She tensed up a bit against him when she felt his hand moving down below her naval, to the sensitive skin above her female mound, and gasped softly, pulling against him, "Dante..."

Having sensed her increased arousal at such a simple touch, reminding him of his newly found discovery of her innocence, he pressed his lips softly over hers, saying, "Shush," instead of kissing her, letting his fingers slip lower, "you know what I was thinking, baby?"

Regan lips were parted, her breathing heavy as she kept leaning up to try and kiss him, felt him moving back with her and then forward again as she stopped trying, keeping his face the same amount of distance away at all times. "What," she gasped out finally, the only thing on her mind being to give him a kiss, tell him she wanted him. When he still wouldn't let her kiss him, she turned her head and began to press kisses against his throat.

Dante's blue eyes closed, allowing her to do that, enjoying it, finding the slit between her legs with his searching fingers, moist with the wetness she'd already developed for him, stroking it back and forth slowly with the sensation of her body tensing against his again, the sound of her aroused gasp of air against his throat.

"Mmm, was thinking about how life's not fair," he told her in answer to her question.

"Dante," she gasped out, his fingers slipping back and forth across her sensitive slit in a tease, making her barely able to understand what he was saying to her. She'd started throbbing, and she told him so, "If you don't stop thinking and start moving, I'm going to explode."

"You're gonna explode when I _start_ moving, so I guess you're pretty much screwed period, huh?"

Had it not been for Regan's reeling mind, she might've scoffed at him, but not now. His fingers had finally parted the folds, and her clit was tugged on. She jerked against him and took several deep breaths as her head fell back, moaning his name somewhat pitifully because of what she wanted so badly. He pinched the sensitive button again, causing it to swell completely, and watched every movement she made beneath him intently, his own pants becoming completely unbearable with the arousal he had going now. His cock was straining against his pants, begging to be let free, and he decided in that moment that it was time to, as Regan had said, move.

Pulling his hand away, he pushed himself back, moving away from the aroused female for only a brief moment adding, "Yeah, it's unfair that I don't get to taste you, Regan, but you got a taste of me. Anyone ever do _that_ to you?"

Breathing heavily, Regan narrowed her brows, lifting her head up when she felt his mouth at her naval, and registering the word 'taste' with where his mouth was now, she pushed herself up a bit and told him, "No, Dante, it's completely fair, I did what I did because I wanted to."

Apparently she'd gotten her mind back, he thought with a huge, cocky grin. "And it's only fair that I get to do the same." His lips moved lower. He felt her abdomen tense and kissed her there again, his fingers hooking into her thighs to keep them where they were, apart and stationary, just like he wanted. Dante loved feeling a woman squirm against him when he gave it to her, and when it was because of his mouth, it became that much better. The events of two days ago had left an air of need around them both, the need to completely satisfy themselves, and he was ready to get that taste out of his mouth with something new. "It's only fair that you're made to be completely wet and hot for me."

"I already am," she whispered breathlessly, seeing his face now hovering over her female mound, and a wave of embarrassment as he admired her so closely washed over her body and prevented her from looking at him. She wanted to reached down and cover herself, but she didn't want to get caught in some kind of erotic game with him involving her fingers, kept trying to close her legs against his hands, but he was just too strong for her. She ended up gripping the blanket she was laying on and clutching her fingers into it. "Stop," she rasped out meekly.

"Not enough," he replied immediately after her words, admiring the pink skin between her legs where he wanted to roll his tongue and drive her crazy. "Damn, pussies nice and pink, favorite color on a womans body." Dante had constantly thought pink was horrendous, but the best damned color around when it came to sex. "Can't wait to shove my tongue in there and make it blush."

Regan's heart was hammering, and she tried to move her hips again, the knowledge of how he was admiring her on top of the added stimulation of words he was saying to her making her go crazy. "Dante, please stop staring at me!" She bit her lip.

"Why? I wanna get a good look at it before I make a mess out of it. It's nice and pretty, and deserves to be shown off first."

Her voice was an aching moan when she drew his name out, begging him as she felt his breath against her inner thigh, his mouth drawing up her leg, then back down, tantalizing her muscles into tensing again, her fingers having taken his as he gripped her leg. He slipped his own hand against hers and held it in the same place against her thigh tightly, saying as he drew his mouth down against the shaved skin slowly, "Don't worry, baby, you won't explode until I want you to."

Regan had no idea what the fuck he'd just told her. He'd brushed his lips and his tongue down against her slit and back up, allowing himself to taste the sugary sweetness causing her skin to glisten now, and he felt her body tensing again, her muscles contracting involuntarily between her legs as his tongue pressed between her lips and just inside of her, wrenching a gasp from her as she arched her back. The warm muscle slowly pressed more deeply inside of her, the tightness of her untried sheath not going unnoticed as he drew more wetness out of her to use against her.

He worked his slick muscle in and out of her, just teasing her, wanting to feel her writhing, avoiding her clit for the moment just to make it that much better whenever he actually did start paying immense attention to it. Already she was becoming insatiable, gasping and making a loud moan, erotically trying to move her hips against him. In and out his tongue went, his hands tightening their grip around her as he stabbed her, shoved it inside of her as he'd said he wanted to, and surely enough, the result was a deep blush.

"Dante," she pushed herself up onto her elbows trying to get his attention, lifting her hips if she could, parting her lips to go on, but he changed his game plan. His tongue finally rolled up, sliding around the aching, swollen clit she possessed which his nose had kept in a constant state of torment only a few moments before, brushing it teasingly, keeping it straining for more, yet not giving it enough to cause her to really scream the way he wanted her to. His hot tongue finally rolled up and around it, his lips closing on it, and when that happened, Regan forgot what the hell she wanted. She fell onto one elbow, making a heated cry of pleasure, arching her breasts into the air as he looked up at her. Best sight in the world. Not even a king had _that_ kind of view.

He sucked on her clit tightly, flicking it relentlessly before rubbing his tongue slowly around and into it in circles, and it didn't take her much at all. She'd already started bucking against him, but Dante felt it was way too soon, after all, he'd only _just_ started literally. He pulled his mouth away from the throbbing button, having already pulled his own pants open since he'd been down that way, and looked up at her, "Make ya hot, does it?"

Regans eyes opened at the smartassed question, and she made a low groan in the back of her throat, almost gasping for air as she looked down at him. Her eyes meeting his, she narrowed her brows and tried to think of something to say, but she couldn't think of one damned thing, except to sputter his name once or twice.

"Thought so," he told her before he slowly allowed his tongue to rub against her clit with a hard stroke, making sure she could feel every inch of it. Her heart was thundering, and she could only stay still due to his hands against her thighs. She'd managed to bring herself to her own orgasm before, but damned if it'd ever felt this good at _all_. She had a white knuckled grip on the sheets she refused to let go of, and her muscles spasmed hard as she made weak cries of his name.

It hit her like a hard bolt of lightening, and she nearly lost control of herself, felt his grip on her thighs tightening as a gush of wetness seeped from her, and she rocked her hips hard, almost grinding them against his mouth. She heard, somehow, his own moans amongst her intense cries of pleasure, until what seemed like at long last her orgasm died down and left her brain in a pile of mush. She panted and laid there against the mattress limply, whimpering slightly, feeling the oddest sense of desiring more even though she'd just gotten off.

Now that she was as wet as she was ever going to get definitely, Dante didn't think it would hurt her as badly as it did most virgins their first time. But he was content to just lean up her body slowly, dragging kisses from her navel on up, his legs now wedged between hers as he met his lips to hers and kissed her slowly. She drunkenly placed her hands up on his shoulders and murmured into the kiss, still reeling from all of the sensations, the way he felt pressed against her. It felt kinda like being drunk but without the alcoholic buzz, she considered for a moment.

Parting his lips from hers after a few moments, he asked her, "Still conscious?"

"Huh?"

"Guess not," he replied softly, smirking as he kissed her once more. "Ready for more?"

"I don't think I can take anymore," she whispered on a groan.

"Sure you can, sweetheart," he said as he rolled onto his side a bit, resting his mouth against her temple, his hand moving between her thighs again in order to rub his fingers against her nether lips. "Fucking soaked," he groaned when he felt the slickness there, rubbing around her entrance in circles, feeling her body stiffening once again. "You like that?"

Regan was clutching his arm, her eyes squeezed shut, and she nodded her head, biting her bottom lip. She almost felt that was all she could do.

"Want more?"

The way she was trying to rub up against him spoke volumes to him, but he asked anyway. Pushing his fingers inside of her, feeling the tight stretch, she got still and hid her face, panting her breath across his shoulder. It didn't hurt as much as she expected it too, and without even thinking about it, her own hand had snaked down to grasp his cock between her fingers.

"Do you?" She asked him in reply.

"Fuck yes," he murmured as she squeezed his flesh, made him turn his head to find her mouth and kiss it hotly, adding a slow drag and pull of his fingers inside of her. When she moaned against his mouth, whined a bit into it, he stopped his movements and just ground his fingers against her, making her tense again with pleasure, knowing he might've caused her a bit of discomfort with his previous movements.

Staying locked in the kiss, pulling his hand away however, the reason being that he wouldn't last long if she continued stroking the massive erection he was currently sporting, he moved his hips between her spread thighs and finally stopped their kissing slowly in order to look down at her. He could feel the warmth of her dripping sex pressed against his hard phallus, and she was still squirming slightly beneath him, opening her eyes to look up at him. Apparently she was a slight bit disappointed about it, which made him smirk a bit in a cocky manner.

"Why'd you stop?" She asked breathlessly.

"Just admiring you," he replied, "thinkin' about how pretty you're gonna be when you find out how good I'm really gonna make you feel."

He'd started grinding his hips back and forth as he said that, slipping his hard length against her throbbing pussy slowly, making her reach down to grab him, "Dante..."

"About how loud you're gonna get..."

"Dante..."

"How many times you're gonna come."

"Damn it, please, I want you so fucking bad!"

"Yes ma'am," he groaned his reply, leaning in closer to her as he pushed her legs back so that her feet were in the air behind him and her legs were bent at the knees. Then he pulled his hips back down a bit and reached his hand between their bodies in order to find her entrance more easily.

Regan couldn't stop panting, thinking about how much she wanted him, or worrying she wasn't going to be any good at this, but when she felt him begin to penetrate her, everything else seemed much less than important. Frowning, she wrapped her arms around his sides tightly and whispered his name, heard him cooing a soft whisper of comfort against her ear, telling her she'd be okay, and he pushed even deeper inside of her.

Fuck if he wasn't huge. She could feel the pain threatening her the deeper he went, but it wasn't anything she didn't feel was something she couldn't handle. There was also another feeling there she'd never experienced before, and she wanted to know more about what it was like. So she asked him not to stop.

Until he suddenly surged forth completely.

That's when she'd changed her mind. Knowing what had happened, knowing she'd just lost her physical innocence and that's he'd torn her open a bit, she felt a tear stream down her cheek just from the shock of it, and she tensed up against him, having made a soft cry of shock. Following the cry were the words, "Oh fuck, you killed it!"

The randomness of the words actually caught Dante off guard. He was so damned encompassed by how extremely fucking tight she was, squeezing him like a goddamned glove, when he heard her saying he'd killed something, and while it didn't snap him out of his euphoria over the sensations he was having in that moment, it did get him to say, "That's what I do, kill things, hymen's included." He only wondered, for as long as his bloodless brain would allow him to, if her slightly nonsensical words had also been because her own brain wasn't capable of operating on all cylinders in that moment.

"Stop, it hurts."

"I won't move, baby," Dante murmured against her ear, then nibbled on it, "just stay still, trust me."

Trust me. The words hit a chord with her, something she didn't really think much about, but she did trust him, had for the longest time now, and knew she'd been right to do so. She trusted him completely, nodded her head slowly, and reached up to wipe her eyes, laying back against the pillows. She couldn't help but trust him, not anymore anyway. He was one of the few good things she had left, and looking up at him now, she felt she was in completely good hands. Even if the man was a horny bastard, that just meant he probably knew what he was doing pretty damned well.

When Dante saw her wiping her eyes, knowing he'd hurt her, watched her as the firelight danced and flickered off of the both of their bodies, he told her, "I'm sorry, Regan, I know it hurt."

"Well," she whispered back softly, "you're not exactly a small guy, you know."

"Always thought I was a bit over endowed."

"No arguments here."

Dante smirked, hovering just over her face, a smirk she was returning to him now despite her tears, and she took a deep breath and lifted her legs a bit to try and get more comfortable, kissing the tip of his nose. "It doesn't hurt so bad anymore though," she whispered, "feels weird actually."

She wasn't used to it, and Dante kissed her lips before she could say anything else, not wanting to break through her current haze which he could see easily in her green eyes. When she'd lifted her legs and shifted, he'd tried to keep himself from moving, the slight sparks she was causing by moving her body starting to set him off. But when she said it didn't hurt anymore, he didn't feel so inclined to wait any longer.

Thankfully.

His hips pulled back slowly as his lips parted from hers and he pushed slowly inside of her again, watching her face, testing the waters. Her brows were narrowed, eyes shut, she looked like she might've been in pain, but it was hard to tell. So until he got a verbal complaint, he continued. Fuck if she didn't feel so damned good he could go crazy either, pushing inside of her, a slow in and out drag, the tight walls of her body slipping and sliding over him with a very wet stretch. He couldn't help but make a low groan in the back of his throat over it. At the end of the sound he made however, he heard a more feminine sound, and realized she'd made a slight whimper.

Must not hurt much at all anymore, or at least, the pain was now being warred with by the pleasure she was starting to feel. He didn't stop. Instead, he leaned back a bit in order to press against her upper walls, knowing she'd like that even more, and continued with his slow thrusting.

"I'm gonna make it feel good in a minute, baby," he murmured on a breathless voice, "just wait."

Regan didn't make a response. She was clutching his shoulders as they rose and fell over her body, and she began to bite her lip. As she did, he felt the instinctive clenching of muscle her tight walls were giving him around his thrusting erection, and as a result, heard her surprised gasp and grunt of effort in order to hold her muscles there. That was the best sign he'd gotten all night long. Green light.

"That's right," he groaned and started to push his hips harder, "more?"

"Uh huh," she whispered softly, "harder, it's..."

"Big?"

"Huge," she whimpered, "do it again."

"Fuck," Dante breathed out just before he settled most of his weight on his elbow by her head, then started really moving inside of her.

Regan made a sound somewhere between a whimper and a gasp when he did that, clutched her arms around his sides and his back, her body arching beneath him. Every time he moved in her, he hit something deep inside of her that she could tell was sensitive, making her feel so damned good, and the pain she felt was becoming a dull ache, but she wasn't focusing on it. Instead, she was trying to listen to anything he said, any sounds he made, the pleasure she was actually managing to get from his invasion, and especially the way he'd leaned down to suck his lips against one of her nipples.

Dante pressed his hand down between her legs, and heard her asking him, "Talk to me."

"Why's that?" Not that he had a problem at all, just that he was curious.

"I wanna hear your–," she gasped because he'd started rubbing her clit in slow, hard circles, "voice!"

"Do you?"

"Yes," she nodded, lifted her legs and made a low whine, "please?" She didn't even know what they were talking about anymore.

"Then maybe I need to tell you how fucking tight you are, or wet. How I'm not gonna let you get away with only doing this with me once, I'm gonna drag you into bed until it doesn't hurt anymore and all you can feel is the good shit."

"This...," she gasped, "isn't the good shit? Oh! Don't stop!"

"Mmm, nope, otherwise you'd be screaming already."

Regan had started panting, and he felt her clamping down around his cock, watched her gritting her teeth against the white hot pleasure she was starting to feel. She'd began chanting words to him over and over again as well, mostly just cussing or begging, but at one point, she told him, "You feel so fucking good!" It was at that point in which Dante slowed to a stop. Regan's eyes came open, and she stared up at him, taking several deep, heavy breaths, about to ask him why he'd stopped as he moved to sit back, demand him not to, but she was cut off as, with her legs over his arms and his hands planted beneath her ass, he started plowing into her.

The pain came back, but fuck if she cared. She suddenly made a much louder cry as she could hear the slapping of skin from between her thighs, her body rocking against his though the mattress that was planted on the floor was stationary without a frame to rock it on. She gripped the pillows behind her head, heard him telling her to play with herself, and she was way too far gone to want to fight him over it, no matter how embarrassing it was to her, pushing her fingers down her stomach. They reached the junction of her thighs, her hyper sensitive clit, and she stroked it slowly, glancing up for a moment to see him watching her, his eyes seeming to stand out in the slight darkness, reflecting the flickering firelight. He was completely handsome, and she couldn't get over it, thought she could probably stare at him all night long. But she felt something welling up within her and she could barely stay still anymore, continuously bucking her hips.

"That's it," Dante knew she was about to come, and he wanted her to, knew it would be difficult for her first time to get there, but he was pretty sure he could tell she was close. "Come on baby, ah fuck!"

He was about to come himself. She just felt so damned good he couldn't stand it, and he let go of her ass with one hand in order to reach between her thighs and push her fingers back and forth against her own clit faster and harder. Regan cried his name as she tore her free hand against the sheets, making another cry of pleasure as she started exploding all over his hard, thrusting prick.

"Ohh! Fuck! Dante! Don't stop!"

"The fuck I will...uuhhh!"

They both started coming together. As the hard waves of pleasure drew over them, Regan sat up and she grabbed Dante tightly, letting his arms wrap around her in turn, letting them both fall back against the mattress. Their movements became still and sated after what seemed like an hour of being completely uncontrollable due to the intense pleasure they'd experienced like that, holding onto each other. Regan was lost to the euphoria of it all, and Dante simply basked in the aftermath of their hard orgasms with a harsh grunt of approval. Continuing to pant and try to catch their breaths, he pushed himself over onto his side and then laid on his back.

Regan rolled with him, her face situated just above his, and Dante watched her quietly for a moment, reaching up and wiping her cheek, "Did I hurt you again?"

Slowly, she began to shake her head no, realizing she'd started to cry again. "I just didn't expect it to feel that good even though it hurt too."

He nodded his understanding to her, had actually heard that before from other women, pushing her hair to the side and over her shoulder as he thought about it. She continued to stare down at him for a moment and then she leaned in and kissed him, her forehead against his, saying, "I know I'm gonna hate myself tomorrow. I don't know how far I should've let this go honestly."

"You think too much, Regan," she heard in response, "let tomorrow happen when it gets here. If you enjoyed it then enjoy it. You know what I think your problem is?"

"What's that?" She asked, nuzzling her face against his neck, completely unoffended.

"You have too much responsibility. You worry too much about what will happen if you try to have fun."

Regan made a sound in the back of her throat that said she was either considering what he'd just told her, or agreed with him completely. "You're probably right," she looked up and leaned her head back a bit, adding, "but can I tell you something else?"

Languidly, he glanced up at her face and asked, "What's up?"

Trying not to smirk too much over his constantly laid back nature, Regan just starting telling him she felt she needed to, "I don't want tonight to be a fling. I do care about you more than I probably should. Is that what you're wanting? Just a fling?"

Dante's reply came without missing a beat. "If I can get you back into bed, I will," he smirked, then put his fingers over her mouth so she wouldn't say anything too soon, "but I know what you meant. I'll be just as honest, I'm not looking to settle down or anything, but I don't want to just say 'bye babe, have a nice life' either."

His words relieved her. She tried to hide it, hoped she'd done a good job doing so, but she'd been really scared he wouldn't think that way and just tell her he was sorry but he didn't like to settle down. Which she didn't want either. She just wanted them to see how it went. She didn't think that was too much to ask, and told him so, "Then we'll see how it goes?"

"That's what I usually do."

It made sense. Regan gave him a little smile and a nod, glad for his honesty, that she felt comfortable enough with him to be that way herself, then she rested back against his shoulder and shut her eyes. Their comfort to be honest with each other was a good thing. She honestly didn't know where next year would lie with him, next month even. It was all a big waiting game to see what would happen, and she knew that. She just wanted now to be about them. Later was, like he'd said, later. In the process, Regan just wanted to perhaps find something she could have that belonged to her and no one else.

But for now, she was really too groggy to consider it. Somehow she didn't think she would sleep though, not with what she was thinking about, which was what they'd just done together. No, tonight would be spent sleepless more than likely.

She was out like a light ten minutes later.

Regan breathed evenly as she lay on her side, her head against his shoulder, one of his arms around her back, his opposite hand on hers which rested against his chest. It'd been a few hours since they'd slept together. She had to be asleep, he thought to himself, coming close to it again as well, having dozed off earlier only to wake up again and have to go use the bathroom. Now it was getting to be morning time outside, and he was just thinking about how he always, somehow, seemed to sleep during the daytime even on occasions when he'd actually tried to sleep at night. He guessed he would always be a night owl.

Damned good night though, he thought to himself. Really damned good. Of course, it was never what a virgin would call her best time, being her very first time as that night had been Regan's, especially not with a guy who actually had an average length or width if not better, because it was always a pretty damned big certainty that it would hurt. Dante had been with a few virgins before, and had never met one, didn't think he ever would either, who hadn't at least cried a slight bit or wanted him to stop for a few minutes after he'd taken her physical virginity. But just because this hadn't been the best sexual encounter ever didn't tell him it was a bad thing.

On the contrary, it told him it would only get better.

But he liked them, now that he thought about it, he liked virgins. They were cute when they were trying to come up with ways to put the whole sex thing off, or things to get out of it. Unless they were an eager virgin, and then they were just fucking cute when they discovered how it felt. On the other hand, an experienced woman knew what the hell she was doing. Dante knew he was tired to be considering all of this kind of crap. So he just closed his eyes in order to go to a beach where both kinds of women were waiting for him, and he could have a strawberry sundae, and relax. Best damned way to get to sleep, that was for sure.

But as he continued to head off into dream land, he just saw one woman there, deep blood red hair, and it was actually pretty nice. They ended up rubbing suntan lotion on one another until the sun went down when they then shared a couple margaritas.

Not his average dream, but it was definitely a good one.


	15. Turnabout

_**Author's Note**__: I just wanted to thank everyone for reading these stories and commenting on them so far. The feedback means a lot to me and to Kazeninoru! I don't usually leave comments like this in the middle of chapters, but I thought it to be necessary this time around and so I did LoL! This is also a note to let you know that the story, for those of you who don't like 'lemons', picks up again at this point in time, so fear not! Let the show go on! XD_

_Turnabout_

"It's uncommonly snowy for this time of year, ya know?"

"I'd had that thought actually." Marvin turned in his seat, Doc next to him, riding down the snow covered roads in the older mans truck. The wind was howling outside, making the snow whip about, blowing up flakes the storm had already shed from the sky, making the snow seem worse than it really was. Marvin looked back at Evelyn, seeing she was sound asleep in her seat, stopping him from asking her how she'd been doing. Smiling at her, reaching back and pulling her blanket up and over her more tightly, he looked ahead again where he sat in the passenger's seat and shook his head slowly as the dusting whiteness outside surrounding them, "How much longer?"

"Well," Doc started, "we woulda been there an hour ago, but going 25 miles an hour doesn't speed things up any."

Marvin chuckled softly and tilted his head down so that he was looking at the floorboard where his duffle bag lay. Treacherous weather, that was for sure, but honestly it wasn't as bad as it could have been. In fact, most northerners probably would've looked at it like it were a flurry. Marvin wasn't gonna complain. Not about the weather anyway. They'd been driving for a good two hours now, heading to the mountain home Doc owned, chatting here and there about the things going on, listening to a little radio, and just thinking to themselves. There was nothing much to complain about besides perhaps the slow ride.

Though Marvin also might've complained about the fact that as Doc slowed down to make a right turn, his truck stalled.

"Damn it," Doc muttered, turning the keys again. The sound of the engine trying to start could be heard in slight sputtering, and Doc turned his hand once more against the key. Glancing up and over at Marvin, he asked, "Damn thing won't turn over, you know anything about cars?"

Marvin snorted, "I didn't grow up in a car garage with my dad and come away with nothing. Don't worry, I'll go have a look at her." Good thing too, he thought as he opened the door, no way in hell he wanted to be completely stuck out in this shit until morning.

Doc smiled and nodded, letting Marvin get out of the truck to go have a look see, popping the hood whenever Marvin called back to crack her open. Marvin grabbed his hood and pulled it over his head as he made his way around the truck in order to have a look at her, trying to block out as much snow as possible from gusting into his face. He began checking all of the lines, the engine, and his brows narrowed as he did so. With a groaned sigh, he called back to Doc loudly, "I don't see anything wrong with her, try to turn her over again."

Marvin waited, but no response, the car didn't make a sound or do anything to signify it was trying to be started. "Hey Doc!," he called more loudly over the wind, knowing Doc's window was down a bit when he'd left the car, "Turn her over again!"

Still, nothing. "What the fuck?" Marvin reached up to grab the hood so he could shut it to signal to Doc when he heard something behind him, which caused him to turn about. It'd sounded like a growl, but he couldn't be sure with the wind whipping around as it was. Sighing, shaking his head and thinking he'd had too much interaction with demonic situations lately, Marvin just muttered, "Must be the wind blowing, guess I should broken out the loud horn."

As he spoke this, he heard the same sound again, a growling, and he decided not to look back, but instead, just head to the door of the truck where his gun was in the floorboard of the seat. After all, maybe it he put it in his pocket, he'd feel better, rather than as if he was about to be victimized the way he was back in town. Reaching up and shutting the hood, he might've been a bit too late, gasping as he felt something wrapping around his foot. Marvin then fell as he was tugged on with a hard jerk, his head barely missing the front bumper of the car, being pulled back through the snow. Looking up, he saw beings, a good number of them, lumbering through the recently created tundra toward him, the Quietuses of which Marvin didn't know the name, faceless, lifeless beings that were still somehow animated and under the control of a malevolent being.

"Shit, **Doc**!," he yelled, "toss me my gun!" He could feel his body being drug even as they moved toward him, making him have even less time than he would have normally.

Doc sat in the drivers seat quietly, the hood of the truck still up, and he looked down, seeing the duffle bag laying in the floorboard where Marvin had been sitting. Reaching down, he opened it, pulling the weapon out and into his hands. Lifting it up, looking back outside, he could see the creatures from the area between the opened hood and the top of the truck and its engine ahead of them in the whipping snow. He could hear Marvin yelling for his gun again amongst the howling wind, and Doc simply reached for the window knob and began rolling it up, looking back to make sure Marvin's yells hadn't alerted Evelyn.

The demonic tongue of the Quietus whom had Marvin in its clutches began to snake out of its mouth as it came closer to Marvin, more tentacles wrapping around the man who struggled to get to his knife inside of his thick jacket, wondering if Doc really was that hard of hearing or if he was just petrified where he was. He just hoped in that moment that Evelyn was alright, still asleep, and grabbing the handle of his knife finally, Marvin managed to cut through one of the tentacles around his chest, then another one, gasping amidst their startled shrieks as he saw the them coming closer.

Their sharp tongues whipped about, one of them raising up threateningly to stab downwards into the man, and Marvin yelled again for Doc to do 'any fucking thing' as his last resort, knowing he wouldn't be able to get to the tentacles around his legs in time to stop them. He knew he hadn't survived all that he had just for it to end like this though, so he never stopped, slashed away as much as he could before the tongue stabbed down at him quickly in order to end him.

That's when he heard a gunshot and saw the threatening tongue flying off of the creature, the same that was about to do him in. Marvin looked into the opposite direction the appendage had flown, in the direction the bullet had come from.

The sounds of a motorcycle were heard in that moment from just ahead over the hill, and the lights shined down as the vehicle suddenly came into view, crashing down behind the creatures and revving up as it ran over two of them and knocked the third, who had its clutches on Marvin, off its balance. Snow and dirt was sling about in the bikes wake, and Marvin somehow felt he'd never seen a sweeter sight.

He took the time however, instead of gawking, to start slashing and hacking away at the rest of the demons appendages who still stood near him, hearing it's screams of agony as he did so, another scream given when the rider on the bike shot at it. Marvin looked up to see the figure, clad in a warm white coat and pants with black boots on, a huge rocket launcher with a blade at the end strapped to her back, and bi-colored eyes staring at him from behind shaded goggles.

"Lady!," Marvin yelled, then pointed behind her at the demons there, lumbering towards her. But she seemed to already know they were around.

Lady emptied one of her guns and tossed it into the air, then pulled out another one and swung her legs around vertically with her ass on the seat of her bike from one side to knock a tongue away from her, aiming with the new gun and firing a bullet into the Quietus who'd tried to grab her, followed by leaning back when another tongue flew over her, missing because of her evasion, and reaching out, she caught her emptied gun with a new cartridge as it fell into her hand, slamming the new clip into itself, and then she turned it on the second demon. Knocking it off of its feet and cold dead, she looked back and saw that Marvin was working his way to his feet. Realizing he was okay, she knew she could focus on other things.

"You alright?" He asked her just as she'd been curious about.

"Perfect," she replied completely honestly, and then they both squinted when the lights from the truck parked near them came on.

Marvin held up his hands in order to shield his eyes and asked, "Doc?" The truck was working again? Hopefully that'd be good news. But Marvin wasn't sure when the engine suddenly revved up and the truck began moving toward him. His last thought before he was pushed over was to ask what the hell?

Lady ran forward and knocked Marvin out of the way just as the truck tore through the area, spewing up snow and dirt everywhere, crushing the corpses of the dissolving demons, and the two glanced back as the truck stopped and then started shifting gears. This time, once the truck began to back up, Marvin heard a gunshot, and he cussed and pushed Lady out of the way as the back windows in the vehicle were busted out from the gunfire. They both landed beside of each other in the snow near her motorcycle.

Marvin glared back at the car and asked, "What the hell is he doing!?" It was obvious he was trying to kill them, but why? "He can't be a cultist too!"

"He is," Lady told Marvin, taking aim with her own weapon and shooting one, then another tire out from under Doc's truck, "he probably killed his own son too."

Marvin had only thought of that the moment he'd asked what the hell Doc had been doing, and in his shock, he almost felt like he could throw up. Who would kill their own kid in order to, come to think of it, what the hell _was_ Doc trying to do? Marvin glanced at Lady with the disgust all over his face. But there was another problem, and he told her, "He's got Evelyn."

Lady shook her head, knowing that she wasn't in immediate danger. "He doesn't want to hurt Evelyn, he needs her for the ritual. That's why her father was killed, because he didn't want to sacrifice his own daughter."

"Yeah well he has a gun and he has no problems with killing us. You've taken out his means of escape, but that doesn't mean he won't come out shooting." Marvin watched the car now silently, and finally asked, "What is he waiting for though?"

"Us to freeze out here," Lady pointed out, "or maybe for more demons to come along, but he knows he's a terrible shot, and it's hard to see in this snow. Not to mention he's probably got a scared little girl in the car, lying to her, trying to convince her to be still and that he's shooting at demons."

Lady knew the game. She'd dealt with humans who were just as evil as demons before, her father having been one of them. She was no stranger to the game by far, and after she said that, she reloaded her weapons while she had the time to. Watching her, Marvin asked, "So what do we do? Are you gonna kill him?"

"No," Lady shook her head, "I want information from the bastard." She looked at Marvin, holding out one of her guns to him, "We need a distraction."

Marvin nodded his head in reply, smirking a slight bit at the words. "I'm all ears, Lady."

"Where's Marvin!?" Evelyn cried from the backseat of the truck, scared to death as she'd been woken up by gunshots whizzing over her head.

"I don't know, he went out to fix the truck. Come on sweety," Doc said, reaching back in order to pull the seat belt from the little girl and he told her, "Just hide in the floorboards, okay? Don't come back up until I tell you to. Something happened and I'm not sure what yet. You'll be safe down there."

Evelyn nodded her head, whimpering in fear and shaking, and Doc looked back out of the front window again once she was down. He narrowed his brows. He could still see the stationary motorcycle, but no sign of his targets, though he rolled down his window so he could aim anyway. The hood was still in his way, but it offered him a good bit of cover, and he continued looking under the area between it and the engine in order to be able to see. That's when he spied one of them that had moved from behind a tree, the one in white who had to be that woman from back at the Ranch with the multicolored eyes. Lifting his arm a bit slowly, he fired off a round, just to let her know he was still waiting for her to poke her bitch face out in order for him to blow it off.

Evelyn started crying, covering her ears with her hands. Trying to keep her calm, Doc told her, "Just be still, I'll get us out of here, I promise."

"What if it's Marvin out there? You might shoot him," Evelyn told Doc between her sniffles.

Doc breathed in a breath in order to reply, but he stopped when he felt the cold barrel of a gun pressing against the back of his head followed by the sound of a hammer being pulled down. "I think that's what he wanted," he heard next, "drop the gun, Doc."

Marvin had snuck around the back of the truck as Lady moved in front to make sure that Doc was watching her moving about and trying to take her down first. Once he heard the gunshots, and knew that Doc was completely occupied, he came up behind the vehicle to the drivers side door, staying low so he wouldn't be seen by anyone in the car at all, and aimed at the back of Doc's head.

"Killed your own son too, did you?" Marvin sneered out, ready to just shoot the bastard right there. "Evelyn," he said on a very fatherly tone of voice, "get out of the car, hold onto my leg. Lady!"

Hearing her name, Lady knew he'd gotten to the asshole, and Evelyn did as she was told, climbing out of the car and shutting the door, grabbing Marvin's leg. Doc watched Lady coming up toward the vehicle whenever she got around to the side of it, her own gun aimed at Doc, and the old man scowled.

"What are you going to do, Marvin, kill me?"

"I'd like to," Marvin told him without an ounce of dishonesty in his voice. "Why'd you do it!? Why'd you kill your own son!?"

"Because they're stronger than us, and they can do things we can't, things that can benefit us!"

"Not without a price!," Marvin yelled, trying to get through to the man as Lady wound up at his side. She knew the kind of passion he was feeling, the fire inside of him to try and stop this kind of thing, so when she spoke to him next, she made sure her words were as logical and clear as they could be.

"Marvin, get Evelyn into the truck where it's warm." She gave him a look that told him she wanted to be alone with this asshole for a while, and Marvin nodded and took a deep breath in order to calm his ire, handing her gun back to her. Once he had, Marvin reached down and lifted Evelyn up into his arms, opening the drivers side door for Lady before he went to the back seat. As soon as Lady had the chance to, she pulled the old man out of the truck and into the snow. Marvin didn't let Evelyn see anything though, climbing into the backseat with her and shutting the door, letting her hold onto him tightly and cry as much as she wanted to, all the while trying to soothe her and tell her what was going on in a way she could understand.

Lady, on the other hand, drug Doc up to the area where her motorcycle sat. She was none too gentle with the man either as she shoved him up against a tree, making sure he could see the gun right in his face, her burning, angry eyes settled just behind it, boring a hole through him. "Where is this ritual taking place?"

"I don't know," Doc told her, "and you can't make me tell you anything. Even if you shoot me now, I won't die. I killed my own son to prove myself to them, and he'll bring me back."

"Who?" Lady sneered, "Democrities? A demon?" She asked the word as if she thought he was completely dumb for even having such a notion. "You _really_ trust a demon to follow up on his word? Or maybe, if I shoot you, you'll become one of those things I just killed. Seems to me that's what they are, the damned souls of those who were foolish enough to trust Democrities." Lady slowly shook her head at him, "You really are pathetic."

"Astute of you girl, however did you manage to come up with that ploy?"

The voice had rang out from behind Doc and Lady. Lady kept her tight hold on Doc but she pulled her other gun and aimed it back, seeing a black clad figure standing in the snow solemnly just beyond her barrel, his robes wafting out into smoke around his feet as they always did. Arias. Lady scoffed slightly, replying to his question smoothly, "When you've dealt with demons for as long as I have, you pick up a thing or two."

Arias graced her with a little smile, seeming to appreciate her intelligence. "My dear old Dad doesn't have anything more clever up his sleeves apparently, saying he wore them. And you can put that tool down, my dear, I honestly have no plans of attacking you."

"Maybe you just missed the note, Dracula, but I just said I don't trust demons," Lady enunciated, continuing to make sure the barrel of her other gun was shoved right up beneath Doc's nose as they stood on the slight incline of the snowy hill.

"Clearly you don't," Arias told her in response, "but honestly, if I were here to have killed you," he pointed out logically to her, and then disappeared before quickly reappearing behind her, his hands on both of her weapons when he reformed. His head commenced to slam down into the back of hers, resulting in her stumble forward at the blow, disoriented for the moment enough so that Arias could plant his foot into her lower back and kick her forward, sending her bundled up body through the snow and finally to a stop, both of her guns in his hands.

"Then I would have done so already," he finished his statement, and then looked over at Doc.

"Thank you," Doc told him, completely gratefully, "I tried to tell her you don't kill those who've proven themselves to you, nor trick them."

Arias offered Doc a kind smile. Lady looked up at the two of them as she heard Arias's carefully placed chuckle, watched him settling his hand onto Doc's shoulder. Doc started chuckling also, and Arias just grinned, "Oh, my kind little doctor, how completely erroneous," Arias started, his words sobering Doc up a bit, "because we do," he finished off, just as mirthful as he'd started.

Doc took a deep breath in a gasp and shook his head no. Arias didn't hold onto him either, simply stared at the man as he backed away in fear. "You're not–"

"See now the pain you've caused for others, Doctor Jack Winston. After all, turnabout is fair play."

Doc could hear his heartbeat as Arias stared at him with his cold, lifeless black eyes, could see his son in the bed in which he'd killed him, having injected air into his IV tube, felt the fear Jack had when he'd awoken to see the bubbles just as they passed into the needle in his arm, the pain his body had gone through before he'd died. Doc heard the terrible agonized screams and pain of the fear of the unknown that Jack had suffered, the hard pressed longing for a way out of it, not yet ready to face death, completely terrified.

Lady watched as Doc fell into the snow, screaming and choking, claiming things that sounded insane, begging not to be hurt anymore. He thrashed about, fighting with what wasn't there, and Lady reached for the gun in her boot in order to stop Arias, pulling it up just as Doc threw himself on her suddenly.

"Make it stop!" The old man yelled at her, having grabbed her shoulders hard and tightly, shaking her, and preventing her from getting her gun in Arias's direction.

Lady tried to struggle with him, tried to push him back, but he'd apparently already gone insane, and he wouldn't stop. Arias just watched without a trace of any type of emotion of any kind on his face, his long black hair blowing up into the breeze as lifelessly as he stood there. Doc had gone completely mad, and in fact, he grabbed Lady's hand holding the gun and put the barrel to his own head suddenly, his thumb having wrapped around hers on the trigger.

"No!," Lady yelled, feeling the trigger being pulled, closing her eyes just as the gun went off, and she turned her face to the side, away from the scene when the dead weight of the corpse fell onto her. Breathing heavily, Lady grunted and pushed Doc off of her. Watching his body land in the snow next to hers, the steam her warm breaths drew out into the cold night air fading away nearly as quickly as they were exhaled, she heard something landing in the snow on the other side of her. Looking back, she saw both of her guns which Arias had pried from her hands when he'd assaulted her. She turned her face back up to the demon and stared at him, his black eyes and unreadable face, only able to growl out the words, "You bastard!"

As if nothing bad had actually just happened, he smirked a slight bit and told her, "I'd much prefer to be one," enthusiastically, "but sadly that won't be for a while now. But I have a message for you to relay to Dante for me if you would madame. Tell him that I'm not interested in him, I'm not interested in you, nor Evelyn or Regan. In fact, I'm simply interested, as you know most Demons are, in my own goals, which is why I let you live now. We are enemies, have no doubt, but we're enemies with a common foe."

Lady listened to every word, but she still didn't trust him of course, and she never would. But she did have a question to ask him, which she spit out vehemently, "Then _why_ kill Doc!?"

"Because he'd served his usefulness as a caretaker, and lost his chance when he failed tonight" Arias told her, "so Democrities ordered it. I can't very well serve to be any help to anyone if I don't at least _pretend_ to try and obey daddy, now can I?"

With those words, Arias turned around and began to walk away, not in the direction of the truck where Evelyn resided however, but instead, into the woods, leaving Lady, Marvin, and Evelyn behind. Lady pushed herself up, staring off after the demon as he disappeared into the snow, and then she breathed heavily and looked down. Help anyone? He should have just said himself, she thought with a slight groan, grabbing her guns and putting them back in their harnesses. She then turned and ran to the truck to check on Marvin and Evelyn.

When she found them, they were both unconscious, and she reached for Evelyn first, shaking her and Marvin awake, "Hey, are you guys alright? What happened?"

Marvin blinked and sat up quickly with a deep breath. "Huh?" He looked over at Lady and then at Evelyn, suddenly groaning and clutching his head, "Oh damn, that guy came back, what's his name."

"Dracula?" Lady asked blandly.

"That's the one," Marvin groaned with a lifted finger as if to say _bingo_, "he said something about he couldn't have us getting in his way at the moment and the next thing I know I'm unconscious." He looked over at Evelyn as Lady shut the door and asked, "Is everything okay?"

Evelyn nodded her head, reaching for him and climbing into his lap, whispering, "I wanna go back to Regan." As soon as she'd said it, she popped her thumb back into her mouth and leaned against him.

"That's where you're going," Lady told her, looking at Marvin, seeing him mouth the word 'Doc', and she shook her head slowly to let him know that Doc wasn't going to be coming back around anymore, mouthing the word back to him 'later'. Then she looked back down at Evelyn, watching as the little girl continued to hug Marvin, her back facing the female devil hunter. So much bullshit had happened, and Lady was damned if she was going to see it happening to someone so young ever again if she could help it.

"Well camp out in here for the night," Lady told them, reaching into the front seat and turning the car on so that the heater was blowing. "In the morning, when there's more light, we'll head back, my motorcycle will be able to carry all of us."

"Alright," Marvin told her, pulling Evelyn up so that she'd be more comfortable. "In the morning, we'll get some eggs and toast, how does that sound?"

Lady smiled as Marvin tried to cheer the little girl up, letting it make her forget what she'd just witnessed out in the snow. With a soft sigh, she watched how good Marvin seemed to be with children, thought about her mother for a minute, and knew that if they came out of this together, Marvin would make a wonderful surrogate father for Evelyn. After all, he'd lost his wife and child, and Evelyn had lost her father and didn't have a mother. In the end of it all, Lady, though she hated to admit it, guessed that Arias was right.

Turnabout _was_ fair play.


	16. Brother Dear

_Brother Dear_

"You look really damned cute with glasses."

"Would you forget about the glasses?"

"Put your hair in pigtails."

"Forget about the pigtails!"

Regan thought she could scream. Dante had been bugging her all morning long since he'd woken up and found her sitting there in bed with a book on her lap, white tank top on, and reading glasses on her face, going over the pages quietly. She looked like a librarian, or a school girl, either way, and he kept asking her to put her hair into pigtails because of it. Regan was fairly amused by it to be honest, but his persistency was enough to make her want to pull her hair out rather than tie it into pigtails for him.

It was somewhat humorous as well, where Regan had felt the need to cover herself back up, putting on a tank top and some panties, having needed a pad for her slight bleeding from last night anyway, Dante just continued to lay there, stark ass naked, arms behind his head, grin plastered all over his face. She glanced over at him once or twice, and every time she'd just shaken her head.

"Can't forget about it, I like handle bars," he told her with a silly smirk.

"What?" She asked in reply with a disbelieving look cast in his direction. "Good grief, I'm _really_ not doing it now."

"Give a guy a break, it'd be cute."

She turned the page, "Cute is _not_ what I'm after at ten in the morning, Dante."

"Yeah, it is a little early," he yawned slightly. "I'd go back to sleep but I'm having too much fun distracting you from your reading."

"I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I've been reading anyway," she pointed out blandly, still ignoring him and looking into her book.

"Pssh," he scoffed, rolling over and onto his side, getting comfortable again, "Like I said, you're no damned fun."

Regan was just grinning, looking at him for a moment as he laid there, eyes shut, and she just went back to the book. She had the brief thought to tell him that wasn't what he'd said last night, but she really didn't want to start a baiting game with him, and just continued reading the pages. After all, she felt she was starting to come to understand a lot of things better now.

Lady had found a good book apparently. She wished she would've picked this one up first. The cover of it said 'Demonic Legends and Rituals of Ancient Times', and while the name of course would have been a real 'yawner' to someone like Dante, Regan actually found it interesting. She'd found a ton of information on several things so far, things about Vampires and Werewolves, wondering if they actually existed, thought to put the question to Dante sometime when he was actually a bit more awake, and she of course found out more on the subject she was looking for, the Gateway.

She even had a piece of paper she was writing a few things down onto, the word Sapa Hanhepi Wi being at the top, circled, with a question mark beside it. The book she was reading now was mentioning whom the ritual was to be performed by, and that was a demonic priest. Regan wondered who the hell this demonic priest was supposed to be.

But she didn't get to consider it long. She heard the unmistakable sound of the door downstairs shutting, and she narrowed her brows. Wondering who it could be, she pushed herself up and grabbed some more clothing, making her way down the hall to find out.

Coming to the top of the steps, she looked down and gasped suddenly when her niece grabbed her legs, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Evelyn?" She leaned down and lifted her up with a grunt, holding onto her with the book she'd been carrying against her back as she walked downstairs. Seeing Lady and Marvin moving into the reception area, Regan decided something had gone wrong, wondering who she should ask. So she just asked in general. "Where did you guys come from?"

They both opened their mouth to speak at once. Marvin just stepped back and held out his hands, letting Lady go first. Lady just snorted humorously at him and shook her head, then turned her attention onto Regan. "Doc was a cultist. Dante suggested to me that it would be a good idea to follow him and Marvin, which I'm glad I did now. He tried to kill Marvin, and he _did_ kill Jack."

Well, that answered Regan's question about where Doc was, but it wasn't the answer she expected or even wanted to hear. She had to sit down on one of the couches as soon as she did hear it, and she supposed Evelyn already knew everything from overhearing it because Evelyn didn't seem shocked at all. Doc killed his own son. Regan's calm vanished into a very sorrowful, even angry state. Her eyes watered a bit and she looked up at Lady with narrowed brows, watching the woman sit across from her on the couch that faced the one on which she sat now.

"Why? Why would he do that?"

Lady shook her head, "Prove himself to them."

"To them? Demons?" Regan turned her head, couldn't help herself. "I've had enough of _demons_ to last me a fu–," she stopped herself because of Evelyn, "a damned lifetime."

"You and me both," Marvin spoke up with a soft groan, rubbing his eyes as if he might've been tired, which was probably the case.

"Believe me, I understand," Lady sat back against the cushions, "I've had to deal with them for most of my life without even knowing it at some points. But get ready because you know we'll have to deal with more."

"Sadly," Regan sighed, leaning back and looking at Evelyn who was still resting against her chest, then glancing up at nothing, her lips parted as she drew breath. "How could he kill his own son? God," she swallowed a lump down in her throat, "Jack, I hope you didn't know what he did." Regan had to admit there were a million and one ways that Doc could have killed Jack being a doctor like he was, and would know how to get away with it easily. Regan had thought something was off about Jack's death, it never settled right with her, but this? This was the last thing that Regan had ever expected to see coming. She knew Doc when she was a kid for crying out loud.

"Don't cry, Regan," Evelyn whispered, looking up at her, "okay?"

Coming out of it at the sound of the childs soft voice, Regan smiled down at her and kissed her forehead, "I won't, Evelyn, I'll be fine. Are you okay?"

Evelyn just nodded and glanced back over at Lady, saying, "We camped in the truck to keep warm until the storm passed, and then Lady got me eggs."

"I thought you didn't like eggs," Regan picked at her and tickled her side, making her grin and giggle helplessly.

"I was hungry," she explained to her aunt desperately, pushing her hands away from her tickling spots. Regan smiled and let go of her, watching as Marvin came over to them both in that moment.

"Come on, Evelyn," he said, lifting her up, "I'm gonna take her to get a bit more of a nap. We didn't sleep too well in the truck last night."

"Oh, okay," Regan replied, pushing herself up to kiss her niece's cheek, then smiled and rubbed the bridge of her nose, allowing Marvin to hoist her off upstairs, giving her a piggyback ride on the way which the child seemed to enjoy. Anything to distract her after what had happened last night and make her feel loved and safe.

Looking back at Lady, Regan sighed a bit, telling her, "I think it'd be best if we got away from here. It don't think it'll hide us, but we all need a change of scenery. What do you think?"

"I think it's probably a good idea for you. Couldn't hurt anyway, but where would you go?"

"Honestly, I was considering going to Capulet City for a slight vacation. I didn't think it'd hurt anything anyway."

Regan just hoped that her choice wouldn't end up being misconstrued by Dante as an attempt to settle down with him. She honestly wanted to just get out, and everything personal that the two of them had done together aside, she simply felt safer with him and even Lady around and about. She trusted them, especially now that Lady had saved Evelyn's life and brought her back like this. So in the end it really did have the least to do with the feelings she felt she'd developed for Dante over the past short while she'd been with him.

"I say go for it," Lady spoke in response, "you'll be a lot happier."

Regan nodded her head, then she moved to grab the book she'd been holding onto and set it onto the coffee table across from Lady. After that, she changed the subject, "I've been reading this, Lady, and I've found out some interesting things. Especially something about a temple called Black Moon or Sapa Hanhepi Wi where the Gateway Ritual was supposed to be performed. Do you think it could still exist?"

"Probably," Lady shrugged, then looked down at the book for a moment. She seemed to really consider it, finally nodding her head, "Anything's possible, especially with these demons around. I know a guy in Capulet City who'd know for sure. He's a demon himself, but he's very nice, friendly, and oddly enough loves children. Dante actually thinks pretty highly of him too."

"Why is that so surprising?" Regan asked her.

"Well," Lady smirked, shrugging her shoulders a bit, "you'll find out when you meet him if you ever do."

Chuckling, Regan nodded, "Alright, sounds fair."

Lady smiled, "So, speaking of the half devil, where _is_ Dante, still asleep?"

"Yep, last time I checked." Regan looked up at the top of the steps and then she shrugged, "Do you think he'd be objecting to us going to Capulet for a while?" She glanced back at Lady inquisitively, still worried about what he might think.

Lady shook her head, "I don't know why he would. Unless you were planning on staying with him, then maybe, I don't know how much space he has."

Regan smirked, looking down in thought, wondering if he would bring it up or not. She had the money for a hotel room for a little while though so it really didn't bother her too much. "That's fine if that's his only objection, I mean, I can get a hotel."

"Who can get a hotel?"

The two women looked up to see Dante standing at the top of the steps, groggy and shirtless, making his way down. Regan watched him coming down and answered his question, "I could. We were talking about leaving, there's some bad news, or, well, actually I don't know what you would call it."

Dante glanced up at them once he reached the landing, and Regan couldn't help looking him over, trying to divert her attention from his presence for a moment, unable to help the thoughts of last night she'd had again. She could feel a blush lighting her cheeks and hoped it went unnoticed. But Dante didn't seem to be paying attention at that moment as he yawned and headed over to the couch, swinging his legs over the back of it and sitting on the cushions next to Regan.

"Let me guess, Doc tried something," he stated casually on a somewhat sleep filled voice.

"How did you know?"

"Because he's not here, and the kid's around."

"But," Regan paused, still watching him, all thoughts of last night having faded now in light of what he was saying, "that shouldn't mean anything."

"You're right, it shouldn't, babe," he finally looked over at her, "but he's been hangin' around that girl since the beginning. Once he offered to take her to the mountains, it just all clicked. So, what'd he do last night?"

"Well–," Lady started, but was interrupted by Regan.

"Wait a minute, Lady, Dante," Regan looked at him, "are you trying to say you questioned him from the beginning?"

"Nope," he shook his head honestly, still casual as hell, looking at her once more. "Just saying that ever since Jack died, he's been acting kinda funny. Jack was his only son, right? But somehow he so easily takes on the responsibility of dragging another kid around with him? The day of his sons funeral? So I told Lady it might be a good idea to go watch 'em for a while."

Regan felt like she was blind. She looked down, turned her head a slight bit, had thought maybe Doc was just lonely, or just trying to help prevent more from happening. Was she too trusting? She also felt angry, betrayed, and completely stupid, and she looked up at Dante, asking him, "Why didn't you say anything to me about it?"

"Because you had enough to worry about, Regan," he grumbled a bit, still somewhat tired, putting his feet up on the table. "Besides, I wasn't a hundred percent sure, it just seems like that's how things usually work out."

Regan frowned again, turning her head and looking down with a sigh. He'd surprised her twice. Not only had he been completely aware of something she hadn't really thought of when it came to Doc, but he'd also been thoughtful of her needs and feels, and she just hadn't really expected him to be. It wasn't that she thought he was incapable of it, but he also just didn't seem like he'd be the type most times.

Dante wasn't ignorant to her dejection either, but he wasn't going to draw attention to it by saying anything else about it. Instead, he just let her think it over, knowing she'd be better off if she sorted things out in her own head first before she discussed it with anyone. So he just asked Lady again, "What happened exactly?"

Lady nodded, then went over the events with the both of them, finishing by telling Dante, "Also, I was supposed to deliver a message to you."

Dante snorted. Waving his hand a bit, he asked, "Since when did _you_ become my secretary?"

"I don't know, I thought the same thing, do I really look like I have a pen and some paper?"

The comment made Dante smile, and he stretched his arms back and stuck them behind his head. "So, then, let's hear it. Who's it from?"

"Arias."

"Oh, Mr. Dark and Dramatic. Should be interesting."

"Actually not really." Lady began. "He just said he's not interested in you or me or anyone else here for that matter, even Evelyn or Regan, just that we were all enemies with a common foe. He told me he had to play along just so daddy would _think_ he was cooperating."

Dante seemed to listen to her words completely and consider them. "A demon with a personal objective. He's just ready to be rid of his father, that's all. He'll probably end up helping us out if it suits his needs."

"That's what I'd thought too," Lady told him, leaned forward onto her elbows. "But there's nothing left here. I mean this mission's been a failure so far. You came to find out about the cult activities going on, but by the time anything showed up," she shrugged, trailing off because Dante knew the outcome.

"Well, it was a mix up in location," Dante said in return, "you had me sent to the Ranch, I should've went to the town. Might not've fixed anything though. I just know that for the time being, things aren't as hot, unless someone comes after Evelyn. Arias killed Doc, and that was her caretaker. Tells me he's not interested in looking out for a kid. Then again, that coulda been a move against his daddy's wishes. How much you wanna bet dear old dad will retaliate?"

Lady smirked, "I'll bet you buffalo nickle. But something doesn't add up. Arias took Doc out of the picture in order to convince his father, not rile him, unless he was lying which wouldn't surprise me. But he has no reason to lie about it."

Regan was getting a bit lost now, "Hold on a second," she looked at the both of them. "Arias is the one who stabbed me, right? If he doesn't care whether we live or die, or if he doesn't care about me or Evelyn, then why did he do that? Didn't he throw you guys to some kind of demon too when you were in town checking out the cult there?"

"He probably wanted us to get rid of some of their power. There's no telling how long that worm had been down there in the storage rooms, eating whomever they fed to it, gaining power," Lady told her, "got us to do his dirty work for him. So he's more than likely just setting everything up into his own favor."

"Let him," Dante replied, "if we're enemies with a common foe, then he'll try to set it up so we'll win, right?"

"Good point," Lady agreed, "just like he got us to take down the worm."

Regan looked between the two of them, the way they talked about it, how they figured things out, and she thought it over herself. Glancing back down, she added, "But that doesn't mean that Democrities won't send someone or something after Evelyn. At what point does Arias have to pretend by taking her, or me for that matter?"

"Gettin' scared, cutie?" Dante asked her, smirking.

Regan looked at him, sarcastic expression on her face, and she replied, "Only of your hormones."

"They're raging, ya know."

"Just like your ego."

"You like my ego, it's nice and big. You like big things."

"Only when they work in my favor."

Lady looked back and forth between the two. Her expression went bland and she sighed, sitting back on the cushions, deciding to interrupt, "Why don't you just leave here for a little while, Regan, and try to relax?"

Dante looked at Lady, then at Regan, reminded of his first question when he'd entered the room, and he asked her, "Where are you going to go?"

Regan shrugged and looked over at him, "I thought it might be a good idea to go to Capulet with you and Lady, just for a little while, get away from here. It couldn't hurt anything anyway."

Dante thought about it for a moment, Regan going to Capulet, a cowgirl in a big city, the thought nearly making him smirk. But he just shrugged, "Might be a good idea. Especially since you're scared."

Regan narrowed her brows, "I am _not_ scared, Dante."

"You're terrified."

"Who says?"

"I do."

"And who's that?"

"The big bad wolf."

"Oh yeah? Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"

"You will be. Girl like you in a big city wouldn't last a day."

"I think I can handle it, Dante, after all, _you_ survived the country."

"She's got your there, Dante," Lady smirked.

"No one asked," Dante rolled his eyes.

"They don't have to," Regan interjected, "they can see you're full of shit."

Lady was snickering, her hand over her mouth, not trying to hide it, simply trying not to interrupt, wanting to see how far the two would go. Dante glanced over at the woman and then shook his head with a loud sigh. "Women."

"You love us," Regan informed him, "otherwise you wouldn't hate us so much."

"I'll tell you what I love," Dante started, devilish grin in place on his lips, "I love it when you bend over and–"

"Knock it off," Lady grumbled, "let's just get back onto the subject, hmm?"

Regan was shaking her head at Dante's shamelessness, and then looked at Lady, informing her, "We'll just ride with you guys, I'll get us a hotel room somewhere. Evelyn and I can go with Dante, and Marvin can ride with you, does that work?"

As they spoke, Dante narrowed his brows. Deciding not to say anything at that point in time, having thought maybe it'd be the best idea for them to stay in a hotel room, he listened as Lady told her that was fine, and then watched Lady get up to go use the bathroom. So, he thought, another road trip, one he actually really wanted to make at this point. That was a rarity in itself.

Regan even mentioned something about it, telling him, "You look tired, Dante. I think you should go lay back down for a little while longer." She brushed some of his hair out of his eyes and tilted her head at him.

Watching her through his half lidded blue orbs, Dante reached out and pulled her onto his lap, then he lifted her up. Regan gasped her breath out and grabbed hold of him just for fear of not being able to steady herself, and she stared at him. "I can walk if you want me to go with you."

"Too late. I wanna bug you some more about those glasses and pigtails anyway."

"You really are shameless, did you know that?"

"Shameless enough to make a sailor blush."

Damn, Regan though with a shake of her head. Now that was pretty bad. She just relaxed against him as he hoisted her upstairs and went back to what they'd been doing in the first place, sitting on the bed and bickering about meaningless things until he'd fallen back to sleep.

---

It was cold. Phrases played in his head that he'd heard before, things said about the heat, about burning, comparing the blaze of flames to this place. He could only imagine peoples surprise. Not that he cared about such things. Not at all. It was nothing compared to the battles and the bloodshed he'd participated in. How long had it been going on now?

Time meant nothing here. He had no idea how long it'd been, no idea how hard he'd fought. He was exhausted. Perhaps it made the cold seem worse, but even then, it was freezing. Something began to fall from the sky overhead, landing on his cheek and melting. The white flakes, only sprinkling a slight bit, the surrounding area brighter than many places, but somehow he knew that it meant nothing no matter how calm it was, how much light there shined into the area. The grey stone walls rising from the platforms, drifting landmasses, warped and distorted in view of a coldly shining light that seemed to somehow imitate a sun was the venue. In a way, it seemed oddly pristine, such a stark contrast to him, blood dried against his skin, both his own and others, soot marring his complexion, having lost his blue overcoat long ago, his vest not completely in shambles but it was no where near the newness it once had been by far.

Drawing in his breath, he looked into his hand. The unbreakable had been broken. Lifting the handle of the once finely crafted katana named Yamato, its blade laying detached from the hilt near his legs, the eldest son of Sparda unfolded his dirtied fingers from around the blue and white hilt, let it fall to the ground where he sat with a metal clank sounding as it landed. Vergil stared off into the distance for only a moment, turning his arms to push his hands into the broken bit of stone he laid against, and he pushed himself up slowly.

He'd lost. The battles he'd fought, the minions he'd defeated, some even having proclaimed to work on his side and had perished. Now he didn't know, however, if they'd been lying and then killed in battle by their own masters, or if they'd been telling the truth all along. Things seemed twisted, up seemed like down and left seemed like right. He took a shaky step and leaned on the stone he'd once been sitting against, his thoughts briefly returning to that cliff that had led him here, the plummet he'd first taken into hell. It seemed like ages ago to him now. As if it were another lifetime.

Rumbling sounded in the distance. Vergil fell onto his knees at the sound and the shaking. His name was spoken, the voice somehow distorted yet completely discernable, low and empty, yet somehow full of power. Complete power.

He needed it. Now more than ever.

He turned his eyes up slowly to the skyline ahead, seeing three glowing red lights growing stronger as they neared him. The snow continued to fall onto his back as his lips parted, gusting a steamed of breath from his lungs, and somehow he thought he could hear the distant playing of pipe organs amongst the cathedral like scenery as if a phantom might have been set to fill the area with a gloom of haunting notes for all of eternity.

"Vergil."

His eyes opened and he remained silent.

"You've fought well, proven your worth to me. I will have you as my right hand. Will you accept my gracious offer?"

Clear, clean blue eyes glanced up from behind the mask of a soiled face, white strands of hair stained with blood drifting messily about his crown. The three lights before him reflected in his pupils, the voice continuing after a moment.

"For your effort, I will grant you unlimited power. You will become feared and respected by all whom I rule, by all of those whom thought you weak for your blood. You have proven them wrong, and thus I will reward you. Do you wish for this power?"

Vergil remained silent. His eyes closed. In a single movement, still on his knees, he pushed his upper body forward, hands planting into the ground, a bow that was unmistakable by anyone's eyes, showing his acceptance of the offer placed before him.

The deal had been set.

"You have made a wise decision." The sky began to turn dark as clouds gathered overhead, the snow fading, turning instead to a rain as the light faded a bit around him, the cold also fading, leaving behind a refreshing wash against his skin which he lifted himself back for, lifting his face to the sky, the soot and blood becoming washed completely away. It felt wonderful.

"Receive your gift of power now, and your new form to better harness it." Thunder sounded, wind began to pick up, and lightening flashed. Smaller bursts of the electricity hit the grounds near him, blowing away chunks of stone. "Your name worthy of such power is now Nelo Angelo."

Lightening crashed down onto Vergil's body, the charge blasting away in a bright burst of power that surged across the stone ground on which he'd kneeled before his new master, the King of Hell and his sire's greatest enemy. His body shifted, his mind erased, a vessel now for the power he was attaining by proclaiming his new master. The lightening vanished and left a steaming crater carved into the stone in its wake. The three glowing lights faded away.

Slowly, the man who now resided in the center of the crater pushed himself to his feet, a set of black armor materializing around his body. What once was the Son of Sparda now was a minister of evil against the Son of Sparda.

His power had been gained.

---

Regan opened the door to her bedroom and stepped inside. She'd already packed most of her things, and she was just doing a once over to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything important for her trip. Finding nothing, she just took another look around the room and reminisced. This had been her bedroom since she'd been a young girl, and she knew she was going to get homesick while she was gone. But she also knew that she'd probably be distracted by the sights and scenes, so it probably wouldn't be too bad.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she could see her brother, the few memories she did have of him chasing her about. He was happy when they were alone. Friendly, liked to play hide and go seek with her. But when they were with their parents, he became a different story, angry somehow, and she wasn't sure why.

She supposed now she'd never know.

Dante had walked in behind the woman, leaning against the wall as he watched her looking about, wondering what she might've been thinking off, and he asked. "Something deep on your mind?"

Regan turned around to see him behind her, smiling a bit and shaking her head as she glanced down at the floor. "I was just thinking about how long this has been my room, long enough for me to remember my brother being in here before he split. This room has a lot of memories for me."

She cast her green eyes about as she said that, Dante watching her, knowing what it was like to get a memory like that from a particular place or object. Regan looked at him then, and he watched her smile, thought she was really pretty when she actually did so, heading towards him and folding her arms over her chest.

"Do you have any family? I mean, outside of your father."

Dante thought about his family for a moment. His mother, brother, had only thought of Vergil recently anyway when Arias had brought him up. Ever since a little over a year ago, Dante had pushed the thought of his twin from his mind completely. He hadn't let onto it much, but somehow Lady had known that the loss of his brother to the underworld had effected him more than he'd showed. Maybe it was because of how things had gone, how Dante had believed for most of his life that his twin was dead anyway only to find out he'd been wrong. Then he'd lost him anyway.

It was like a dashed hope he supposed, a false hope that he might not've been all alone in the world. He had no idea why things had to happen that way, and he'd been trying not to figure it out, not wanting to dwell on it, and not with Arias's words of Vergil's final act being played out. Dante could only imagine what that might've meant. Being in hell, there could've been a million things that had happened to Vergil so far, and Dante refused to consider that they did.

But Regan had a very similar tale. She'd lost her brother when she was younger, didn't know him very well, and was probably confused about where he'd gone. Maybe she'd thought he'd died like her parents had, being so young as she was back then. Then, she glimpsed him alive for only a moment before he actually was killed, left behind with his daughter who probably wouldn't remember all that much about him either.

Something about the situation made Dante actually open his mouth, and he told her, "I never really had a father, I don't know him, never met him. But my mother was always around. When I was a kid, she probably pulled her hair out because me and my twin brother fought all the time over the stupidest shit."

Regan smiled at him. "You have a twin? Oh no."

After making the joke, Dante smirked but shook his head, "Nah, Vergil was the exact opposite from me. Everything about him, left handed, quiet, enjoyed reading and doing his homework. Guess you could say he was the more mature one."

Regan nodded understanding, knowing twins usually seemed to come out opposite like that, wondering why. She was curious about him though with his twin, also thinking that the names Dante and Vergil were priceless somehow. The Divine Comedy. Had his mother or his father come up with that? Deciding not to ask since he'd never met his father and might not have known, she asked instead, "Where are they now?"

"Well," Dante sighed, leaning back against the wall behind himself again, "Mom's dead, and Vergil is," he paused for a moment, for once, his face seeming a bit more seriously, turning his blue eyes at her face finally. He honestly didn't know. Something in him told him that his brother was still alive, though he wasn't sure he could trust that instinct or not. After all, he'd grown up thinking Vergil was dead when he was actually alive. Wouldn't that mean that now was different?

Seeing the look on his face, Regan reached a hand up to his shoulder and shook her head, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask about something delicate."

"Nah," he shrugged it off the best he could, "I just honestly don't know. It's been a little over a year since I last saw him, so there's no telling."

He knew she wouldn't completely understand. But she didn't ask anymore, seeming to realize when to changed the subject, and she offered him a warm smile, "Don't you hate siblings?"

"Yep," he smirked, "they're a royal pain in the ass."

"Amen," she grinned back at him. "Well, anyway, I hope you don't mind my asking to come to Capulet with you and Lady."

"Why would I mind?"

"I don't know, I just didn't want you to think I was trying to impede you, step on your toes, crowd you, whatever you might call it."

He got it now. She didn't feel comfortable with him as a couple. He'd agreed to see what would happen with her, but somehow she still felt as if she might've been making _him_ uncomfortable in turn.

Dante reached his hand out and pulled her in closer by her own hand, wrapping his arms around her shoulders with a lopsided smirk settled onto his handsome features. Regan let him and she leaned against him, the side of her head against his chest, getting the point by the simple gesture alone. It felt nice just being close to him, Dante himself getting the same feeling, wondering why he'd overlooked smaller things like this before. They just stood there for a few minutes, and it was nice, despite his penchant for thrill seeking and things like it. He supposed he just needed to take a break every now and again like everyone did.

"You know, I forgot to ask you about that sword," Regan spoke up suddenly, interrupting his thoughts on the matter of being with her like this. Her eyes had opened and she'd spied the weapon sitting there in the corner of her room, the silver hilt with the skulls head at the tip which had been around since the night Arias had stabbed her. "What are you going to do with it?"

Dante looked over at the sword and he remembered what the name of it was. "Well, it's something I can't really use. Arias said it only works for people who have the blood of Democrities in them, and he told me to give it to you."

"Great," Regan muttered blandly, "but you know I can't use a sword."

"Well," Dante started in reply, standing up straight and letting go of her so he could grab the weapon, picking it up and carrying it back to her, holding it out, "it's not like it'd hurt to learn. Especially considering what you are now."

Regan let her fingers wrap around the sheath covering the blade and then glanced her green eyes back up at his face. Pulling the sword in closer to herself, looking it over as she pulled the blade out of the sheath partly, Dante continued, "He said it's name was Demoncaller."

Regan lifted a brow, then she pushed the blade back into the sheath and shrugged, "If you can give me some pointers, it'd help."

"No worries, doll," Dante walked over to her and slung his arm around her shoulders, walking her to the door, "I'll make sure you're nice and informed."

"I feel better already," she muttered.

"That's just wrong," Dante replied, going down the hallway so that they could head outside, "I've been completely nice to you today."

"Yeah, outside of begging me to dress like a schoolgirl for you," she grinned and stuck her chin out cutely.

"But I got you a sweet sword, you should be thanking me."

"Alright fine," she pouted playfully, "thank you, Dante! It's the bestest present I ever gotted!"

"Goddamn, you can stick to insulting me if you're gonna act like that."

Her chuckling could be hear going down the hallway and outside of the lodge.

---

_OMG Poor Vergil! I bet you guys never saw that one coming LoL ^^!_

_I hope you guys enjoyed that little snippet, and that maybe some of Arias's words have come more clear to you all now. If not, then yes, it was at this point in time that Vergil was converted into being Nelo Angelo and for those of you who are still a bit confused since this story takes place a year after Vergil descended into hell and he's __**just now**__ being brainwashed, then it's because we've come up with the thought that time probably runs slower in hell than it does in the human world. You spend an hour there and a whole week's gone by in the real world or something lol ^^!_

_Anyway, just thought I'd explain that for the ones of you who might've been a little bit lost kk!? Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed it! -GieGie_


	17. Antihero

_Antihero_

The wind was blowing through the trees in the forests, a chill on them that was somehow ominous. Snow drifts blew up from the ground, wafting about before they came to settle in random areas around the old stones rising up from the ground in what looked to be ruins of an old structure. A soft howling could be heard, but it wasn't caused by the whipping winds. The sounds seemed to manifest themselves, coming together inside of the stone ruins, growing more intense and menacing, until a tiny red light began flickering about.

Suddenly it pulsed forth, surged from the ground, and exploded outwards around the snow, a power being generated from the burst that held steady as a taloned hand with leathery black skin suddenly sprang forth from the orb, landing in the snow, maggots and centipedes falling from the appendage that pulled itself forth. A low groan sounded, and the creature fell into the snow, steam rising from its body, glistening with unnamed fluids that spilled onto the ground. It's torso was long and somewhat lanky, ribs protruding, but its stomach was concave, as if it had never eaten a single thing, the skin there plastered under its ribs to a pulsing flesh covered organ that sounded a liquid thud even though it was inside of the monster's chest.

It's long, lanky, skull-like face, somewhat akin to a horse, but with long, slender rows of fangs lining its jaw on the top and the bottom closing together like a clamp, lifted slowly, it's body straightening with suddenly, jerky, inhuman like movements, as if it'd yet to gain control of itself or its body. Decay seemed imminent about its being as well, and as it stumbled back into the snow, trying to get a hold on its movements, the light it'd emerged from slowly dyed from the area it'd formed in.

Finally, it pushed itself up, onto all fours, hulking over like a long, lanky beast, short spikes rising out of its spine and down a long tail. The beast had to be about eight feet tall. It slowly lifted its head, eye sockets beginning to glow red, and it leered about the area for several moments. Another wind picked up, and the creature tossed its head back and let forth a loud screech that seemed to click in its throat like a large type of feline might do.

Her mint green eyes opened and she gasped, pupils dilating, staring ahead as the scenery passed by her. Breathing somewhat heavily, Regan narrowed her brows and tilted her head forward, putting her hand on her forehead, suddenly jumping damned near a foot when she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard a voice asking if she was alright.

Looking over, spying Dante in the drivers seat next to her, having glanced at her for a few moments before he'd looked back at the road again, she nodded her head slowly and told him, "Yeah, I'm peachy keen."

"Peachy keen," he drew out, snorting slightly in amusement, "there's a word you don't hear everyday. You sure you're peachy keen? Why not fine and dandy?"

"I'm fine, Dante," she smirked at him, shaking her head. "I just had a bad dream," she sighed. "One of those dreams that leaves a bad taste in your mouth."

Regan spoke the last part as if she'd just admitted to something terrible. Regan wasn't sure what it was, but she just felt odd, and she wasn't actually even sure if she'd had a dream or not. Turning her head, she looked over at Dante, then into the backseat, seeing that Evelyn was playing with some cards Lady had given her and she glanced ahead into the front at Regan. Regan offered the little girl a smile and then she sat forward once again, asking Dante the first thing she wanted to know since there was no clock in his car. Well, there was a clock, but the time on it wasn't right. Dante never set it.

"How long was I out?"

"About two hours."

The scenery passing around them wasn't of city yet, instead, just random exits into small towns and trees or other various landscapes, and Regan watched them all passing by with bored interest. Seemed to her like riding in cars for long periods of time put things into perspective, made you remember why you liked to have one place to stay instead of moving around everywhere all of the time.

"Then we're almost there?"

"Almost," he admitted, "another few exits."

"Good, I hate driving long distances."

Dante had pretty much the same sentiment. He liked his car, but damned if he liked to drive it for long periods of time. Too damned boring for him. The thrill seeker loved a good fight or a means of challenging himself and his mobility, not just sitting behind a wheel to get down the road for anything that took longer than two hours to do. But this instance was different. He was ready to get back to his shop, ready to get back to some real work, as in missions that didn't leave him completely frustrated where he could actually kick some ass on a regular basis, and so this car ride was worth it in his opinion.

So returning to Capulet finally was a good thing. Regan had gotten a hotel room close by his shop, within walking distance anyway, and first he was going to head to his place and check everything there, take a short break, then get her over to where she needed to go. Or that was the general idea so far anyway. But for now, he was nearly bored to tears just like she was.

"How about some music," he asked, reaching out and flipping the radio on. The song had just started, but it was a good one, making him grin, "Hell yeah, Joe Walsh."

"Rocky Mountain Way," Regan also grinned, glancing at him. "Haven't heard this song in a while."

"Me either. Could probably play it a million times and it still wouldn't get old."

"Dante, they probably _have_ played it a million times."

"That's my point."

Smirking, Regan looked up and saw a sign that said 'Capulet City - 100 Miles', and she continued smiling, "This song should help the next hundred miles."

"Especially if it's a two for Tuesday, they might have another one on after this."

"Good point," Regan agreed, looking at the sky and the rolling clouds there in it. It was definitely nice to see the sun again, and feel a little warmth, even though the climate was still cold for so late in the year of course. She also found her head bobbing to the music as it worked into the slow guitar rift that led up to the best part of the song and the waiting suddenly didn't seem so bad anymore. Thank goodness for music.

The next song that wound up playing as the exit to Capulet City came up was 'Enter Sandman', something that Regan could see suiting Dante's profile a bit more closely, though Joe Walsh wasn't too far off. The city looked huge to Regan, and she stared as they came over the large six lane highway bridge leading into town, the towers rising up as if even in the sky with the clouds height, and Dante glanced over at the red head.

"Don't tell me you've never been to the city."

"Once or twice," Regan said, "but not any cities with sky scrapers."

"Well, then welcome to the city, it's a jungle out there."

Somehow Regan knew Dante wasn't joking around, and she looked back out of the windows on the doors. Lady came up on the exit behind them but she took a different route, Marvin in tow just behind her. Seeing the two taking off into a different direction than Dante and herself, Regan asked Dante, "Where are they going?"

"Lady knows some shortcuts," he explained. "And she probably needs to get some gas too. They'll make it to the shop shortly."

With a nod of her head, Regan checked on Evelyn again, asking if she was alright, and getting a thumbs up from the quiet little girl. Reassured, Regan turned to see all of the pedestrians making their way down the road, the cabs driving around them, the walk and don't walk lights, and she wondered just how light up this place got at night. She was starting to feel better that she'd come here. Somehow, she felt she could get really lost from unwanted people, or demons anyway, in such a large place.

Or at least, she hoped so.

Dante continued driving, and Regan, after the third turn, said, "I'm never going to learn my way around here."

"Women have no sense of direction."

"I _will not_ contest you on that, Dante, but I will say at least we know how to ask for directions."

"That's why men don't get lost."

Regan scoffed. Looking back out the window, she told him, "And you didn't know Eddie very well."

"Who?"

"Eddie? The guy who raised me?" She asked, smirking at him, "He never got lost on his horse, no, but in a car, he didn't know how to get out of the driveway."

Dante grinned and they heard a little girl snickering in the backseat. The sound made Regan chuckle, and she reached over to the stereo to turn it down, and once the music was at a lower level, she asked him, "So, Devil May Cry, who came up with that name anyway?"

"Lady, actually," Dante informed her.

"Oh yeah? It's an odd one."

"Well, it was an odd situation," Dante replied simply, turning down yet another road, and Regan saw the sign over the shop before he could say anymore. So, it wasn't on a fancy end of town, somehow that didn't really surprise her, and it was bigger than she'd expected. Once the car came to a stop and the engine was turned off, Regan grabbed the doorknob and she got out, looking back when she heard a group of kids yelling as Dante reached into his trunk and pulled out his guitar case.

"Hey Dante, that your new girlfriend!?"

Dante rolled his eyes, "Shut up and go play on a busy street, wouldya?"

The kids started laughing and Regan shook her head, going to the backseat and reaching inside to pull Evelyn out by grasping her hand. Walking to the front door with Dante, the kids furthered their yelling at him, though it was hard to hear them with nearly every single one of them yelling, and as they got to the front doors of the shop, Regan asked, "Friends of yours?"

Scoffing, Dante glanced back at her, "That's the brat brigade. School's probably out today or some shit."

"Do they do that _all_ of the time?"

The group of kids liked Dante, but they liked to pick at him too because of the things he said to them. It was an odd situation where the kids knew he didn't really mean it, and they all thought it was funny, so they just continued on and on to try and get his attention. Shrugging, Dante replied simply, "I couldn't tell ya," and he opened the doors and walked inside. Regan watched him, then sighed with a slight shake of her head, looking up at the sign over the doors.

"Devil May Cry," she looked back at the doors again, "let's go see why, Evelyn," she smiled at the little girl and then drew her along inside with her.

It was nice, simple, not the most extravagant of places by far, only a slight bit run down as far as current building standards went, but it was clean and Regan could appreciate it. As she looked around at the pool table, the guitar sitting in one of the corners with a couch and a table, on it a television set that looked twice her age almost, she couldn't help but ask him, "I didn't know you actually played the guitar. I thought you just used a case to hide your sword."

At that moment, the phone started ringing, and Dante set said guitar case next to his desk, replying to her, "Yeah, I'll serenade you sometime," with a smirk before he grabbed the phone from its receiver and placed it to his ear. "Devil May Cry."

Drawing her attention away from Dante, Regan looked down at Evelyn who'd tugged on her pants leg and she listened as the little girl whispered to her, "He has a lot of girls on the wall."

Regan looked up to see the pictures Evelyn had just mentioned to her and she smiled. Typical. Looking over at Dante, not really listening to him, she was glad the place was _completely_ unlike she'd thought it'd be, which was messy and, well, just a basic bachelor pad. Though, she guessed the term could be applied here, but in a much different sense.

"Well, he's a guy, and they do that sometimes." Regan explained, glancing down at the desk and the older looking model phone he was using. As she'd looked around, she realized he had a lot of what looked to be antiquities in his shop, pool table, phone, jukebox. He must've had a taste for them. But what had caught her eye wasn't exactly the phone itself. Sitting next to it was a picture of a woman with long blonde hair and a red scarf on, or perhaps a red sweater, Regan couldn't tell, and as Dante hung up the phone, she asked him about it.

"Who's that?" She pointed her finger in a gesture. "She's pretty."

"Who?" He looked. Regan walked over to the desk, leaving Evelyn to pluck at the guitar strings a few times without bothering anything, and when Dante saw what she'd been pointing at, he looked back up at her after sitting down in his chair. "That's mom. Thanks."

Regan smiled, leaning onto his desk on her forearms and looked at the picture more closely. "You have her eyes," she glanced at him in order to compare them.

"Actually, her's were a bit darker."

"Oh, well," she shrugged, "I still see the similarity. Maybe it's the flash of the camera." Turning her head and standing up straight, she was surprised when, as she tried to walk away, Dante put his hand in the back waistband of her jeans, and pulled her toward himself, causing her to fall into his lap. She blinked at him a few times at him after she'd landed and then lifted her brow in question. "You happy to be home?"

"Yep," he smirked, "happy as a pig in shit."

Regan pursed her lips, then muttered his name as she tried to stand back up, but he just tightened his grip. Regan didn't mind honestly, but she had noticed Evelyn staring at them quietly. Seeing the little girl, Dante smirked, not embarrassed one bit and he asked her, "What? Never seen a guy with his girl in his lap?"

Evelyn blinked a time or two and pursed her lips, giving him a look that said either she didn't understand him, or she thought he was crazy. Dante snorted in his amusement over it. But his attention was drawn when Regan told him, "You know, Lady and Marvin will be here any minute. Maybe you _should_ let me up."

"Why? You wanna keep this a secret? Marvin give ya the hots does he?"

Dante's typical grin was in place, picking at her, and Regan's green eyes rolled harder than they ever had. "Actually Dante, it's Lady who gets me going," she looked at him pointedly, "I was only using you to get to her."

Regan had to fight not to laugh and keep a straight face. Dante was just staring at her as if his interests had been peaked as hard as they'd ever been and it was hilarious to see. She was amused by it, thinking about how typical his male appetite for sex was, maybe even more so than the typical guy if the way he flirted so shamelessly was any indication. So the fact that even a hint of a promise of some girl on girl action made Dante give her such a look just cause her to become flat out amused.

"I knew it," Dante told her, shaking his head, "I'm going to have to punish the _both_ of you now."

"Yeah I really see Lady going for that." Regan muttered out, pushing herself off of his lap in his distraction of lesbian fantasies, and she chuckled, hearing Lady's motorcycle outside. Walking over to Evelyn, she took her hand and told the little girl, "This is your first lesson about men, they're easily distracted because women are smarter."

Evelyn smiled a little bit, the door opening behind them by Lady's hand and Marvin held it, telling her to go first instead. After she'd moved inside, she looked up to see Regan and Evelyn standing there, and Evelyn ran over to Marvin with a grin, hugging his leg. Regan watched them, seeing Marvin smiling and lifting her niece off of the floor, seeing that they seemed to be fairly happy together. She didn't mind it at all, but something inside of her broke a little at the sight.

Distracted from her thoughts though, she heard Lady asking, "So, you gonna hang out around here for a little while, Dante?"

"Actually he's planning on punishing us for being lesbians."

"Oh really? Somehow I thought he'd like that kind of thing," Lady replied casually, unknowing what kind of conversation had prompted Regan's line just then, but supposing it came from an attempt by Regan at getting Dante to stop his shameless flirting by telling him they were lesbians. Both women glanced over at Dante and Lady just slipped her arm over Regan's shoulder, "Sorry, girl show only Dante, no men."

"Marvin," Evelyn asked softly, "what's a lesbian?"

Marvin blinked, "A lesbian is a mythical creature that should never be spoken of by children."

"Done this before, have ya, Marv?" Dante asked from his seat behind his desk, looking through his bottom drawer for something.

"My daughter was about the same age as Evelyn," he chuckled, walking further into the shop, seeing the pictures on the wall and somehow guessed this might not be the best place to take a child. He shook his head a bit, "So, anyone hungry? I'll sprint, pizza all around."

Dante glanced up, having found what he was looking for, thinking it was odd that Enzo had followed his instructions and put his mail in the right place for once, though he cringed to think of what his fridge might have looked like in that moment. Anything in there but beer and any kind of sweets. Holding the magazine he'd gotten in the mail while he'd been away however, which had been in his drawer, he told them, "I like how this man thinks."

"Of course you do," Lady rolled her eyes, "your only food group _is_ pizza. And beer."

"It's a damned good food group too, don't knock it."

"Any food group will do right now," Marvin interjected, "I'm starving. What do you guys want?"

"Anything but olives," Dante said, hearing Lady speaking the same line at the same time and he sighed and continued reading. Lady grinned and told Marvin, "The phone's on the desk. But I'm gonna go. I have a few things I want to check out."

"You're leaving?" Evelyn asked her softly, watching as she passed and stopped to look at the little girl.

Lady smiled at her warmly and reached out to pat her hair, "I come and go. But I'll be back around tomorrow. I'll teach you how to shoot some pool, that sound like fun?"

Evelyn nodded her head, smiling back, telling her bye as she left the shop, and then got down when Marvin placed her back onto the floor, standing beside Regan as he went to use the phone. Dante told him to call Andy's, it was a new place in town and he had the number memorized, they seemed to serve pretty good pizza, and it was the one place Dante didn't owe an overly large tab to yet. Once Marvin was on the phone, Regan turned and knelt down, looking at Evelyn.

"So, what do you think of the city?"

"It's big," she whispered softly, having always been very soft spoken, if she even said anything at all, "are we gonna get lost?"

Regan chuckled at her, "Maybe, if we're not careful. But we'll have Marvin to get us back on track." She pushed the little girls hair behind her ears and asked her, "Is there anything you want to do?"

Evelyn shrugged her shoulders, biting her bottom lip, a habit of hers that Regan had realized she'd had, as well as sucking her thumb from time to time, and Regan just nodded, suddenly remembering to ask, "Marvin, do they sell soda's?"

"Yeah," he looked at her.

"Get one for Evelyn, we can take it back to the hotel room too."

Dante knew he didn't have any soda. Just water probably considering his makeshift house sitter and the man's habits, and he grumbled over it inwardly. Putting his magazine down, he stood up to go see just how empty his fridge was after all, knowing it would bother him until he actually looked. Besides, if Enzo had taken a lot of his shit again, Dante wanted to be properly angry whenever the short Italian actually showed up at his place.

Shoving the door to his fridge shut with pursed lips a few minutes later, he sighed, "Figures."

"What's up?" Regan asked, standing in the doorway.

"Just Enzo stealing my shit. I told him once to make himself at home a long time ago and he's like a damned stray dog, he keeps coming back."

Chuckling, she shook her head, having had to deal with people like that before herself. "Well, the pizza's on its way, and the beer, so you shouldn't have to worry too much for tonight."

"Damned good thing too. Maybe my luck's finally changing for the better." He looked over at her and added, "Do you guys have any plans?"

Regan shrugged, "If you mean about when we're going to head to the hotel room, Marvin just left to run an errand actually, but he's coming back. We went in half and he's going to get a rental car. Lady told him there was a rental car place right around the corner, so we'll just pack our things into that car and head to the hotel on our own, you don't have to worry about taking us anywhere."

Dante was somewhat disappointed. He knew it was selfish, and probably horny of him, not that he cared, but he wanted Regan to stay and Evelyn and Marvin to go to the hotel. If she did that though, he knew sleep would be the last thing either of them would get, once again, as if he cared. But he did care about Regan enough to respect her wishes, knowing she'd rather operate on sleep than without it. But he'd, of course, never let onto that, like he never let onto a lot of things.

"Good," he told her, "and the hotel's in walking distance, so you can come by to see me as often as your little heart desires anyway."

"You know, Dante, I could say how infrequently that would be, but I don't want to pop that massive balloon you call an ego. It might explode and kill the world."

Dante grinned, heading toward her and the door, pulling his trench coat off, the black button down he wore beneath it unbuttoned partially, setting his coat on the hanger by his couch. Regan walked into the office as well, seeing Evelyn sitting in the chair behind Dante's desk, staring at the picture on it. "Whatcha see, Evelyn?"

"A pretty lady," she whispered, pushing herself up from the chair automatically when Dante headed over to it and sat back down. Evelyn tugged on his arm when he sat, and she asked, "Why do you have pictures of girls up on the walls?"

"Because girls are pretty. I thought I'd show 'em off." Dante was a little less creative in his responses than Marvin had been, not completely used to dealing with children much, well, except for the Brat Brigade. But that was a different story.

"But she's prettier than them."

Dante looked down at the kid, then told her, "That's why I show her off on my desk."

Evelyn nodded as if in understanding, and then she heard a knock at the door and the squeaky voice of a teenaged kid asking loudly, "Someone order some pizza!?" When his voice squeaked while saying the word pizza, Evelyn started giggling softly.

"I'll get that," Regan smirked, walking to the door and opening it. She pulled in three large boxes with a six pack of beer on top of them, and handed the man the money before she took the two liter of soda in her other hand and then thanked the delivery boy. Once he'd walked away, she realized someone was standing behind him, a short, somewhat dumpy man in a cabbie hat, and she decided not to ask him anything. This was Dante's home after all.

But she didn't have to. As soon as the short man looked up at her, he stared for a minute, which caused her to lift her brows, and he said, "Damn."

"Um, hi?" Regan asked, "Can I help you?"

"Uh," he drew out, staring at the redhead still, "yeah, is Dante around?"

"Regan," Dante called from behind her, making her turn around, "move to the side, I've got a bullet with Enzo's name on it."

So this was Enzo, she thought to herself, but she didn't get a chance to dwell on it. Dante already had Ebony in his hand when she looked back and he was aiming it at the door. "Shit," she exclaimed and backed up, and at the same time, Enzo dove to the side to get out of the way.

"Dante, are you crazy!?" Regan asked him, narrowing her brows as she moved toward his desk with the food, placing it down and watching him continue to aim at the door. Evelyn ran over to Regan and hugged her leg, seeming a bit afraid.

"Regan, is that man a demon too?"

"No," Dante spoke up, putting his gun away, grinning because it was always funny to see Enzo with a fire lit under his ass. "He's just a short guy with some bad habits."

"You _are_ crazy, aren't you?" Regan grumbled out.

"Some people tend to think so," he told Regan, giving her a little wink before he stood up and grabbed one of the boxes of pizza, car lights outside shining into the office as the sun had began to set, signaling Marvin's arrival back at the shop with the rental car. Reaching back, Dante turned the light switch on since it was getting kind of dark, and then he looked at Evelyn, grabbing her and putting her on his desk so she could eat as well, sitting back down in his chair. She sat with her legs swinging off of the side of the furniture and nabbed herself a slice of pizza with a napkin mannerly.

Outside, they could hear Marvin asking, "Hey, you okay?" Apparently he'd seen Enzo hiding out there.

"Is he still aiming!?"

"Who?" Marvin asked, going to the door and glancing inside somewhat quickly.

"No," Dante replied, "tell him to get his Italian ass in here."

Marvin lifted his brows and looked to the other side of the door where the hidden Enzo resided, shrugging his shoulders and walking into the shop. "Damn straight, pizza."

"Do you have any cups?" Regan asked Dante before more could happen.

"Look in the kitchen. They should be around somewhere. I know I have a set of brandy glasses in a case on top of the fridge."

Typical again, Regan thought, just walking into the kitchen to find them. As this happened, Enzo came into the office, and Dante sighed, "I told you to house sit, not clean me dry. _Again_."

"You were gone," Enzo told him, "it would've went bad!"

"Beer?" Dante asked, "Over how long?"

"Fine, I'll bring you another six pack tomorrow."

Dante chewed on the pizza in his mouth and shook his head at the short man, "You're gonna do more than that." Regan walked back into the room and began pouring Evelyn some of the soda as she munched on her pizza, and Dante continued, "Out in my car, there's several suit cases. I want you to go out there and move all of those into the car that just pulled up, got it?"

"I'm replacing the beer though!," Enzo grumbled, "Why the hell do I have to do that for?"

"Because you're not replacing the icecream or the strawberry syrup you took."

"Damn it," the pudgy man muttered, leaning against the desk with a sour look on his face.

"Enzo, I have a gun," Dante said, smirking when Marvin chuckled at him. "Get to it."

"But I came here to tell you something. I've got a job for you."

"Then consider me closed for the night. I've got a job for _you_ for once. Italian's May Cry, now get out there and put some effort into it, and I don't wanna hear about any damned property damages otherwise it's comin' outta your pay."

"Pay," Enzo grumbled, heading to the door, "_what_ pay?"

"The pay I'm gonna take out of your ass if you don't quit complaining."

Regan was smiling herself, somehow she couldn't help it. She didn't know this Enzo at all, but if he'd taken things he shouldn't have, then she could say that she thought Dante handled it with fine style, though he didn't have to threaten the man with a gun for crying out loud. But Marvin spoke her thoughts, telling Dante, "That was a good one, Dante."

"Thank you, I'll be here all night."

Swallowing the bite of pizza in her mouth, Regan asked him, "Who is that guy anyway?"

Working on his second piece of pizza now, Dante shrugged, popping open his beer cap, "He brings me jobs from time to time. Sometimes they're crap, but when he gets good one's, they're good ones. That's the only reason I really tolerate him." Once he'd finished speaking, he downed a good gulp of the beer.

"Demon hunting, right?" Marvin asked him.

"Uh huh."

"So who do these jobs come from?"

Dante didn't mind the questions. Hell, he liked Marvin pretty decently, he was a good guy, not to mention the man had bought pizza and beer for them, so he didn't mind telling him the answer. "People all over town. Sometimes they think they saw a ghost, I always turn those jobs down, and sometimes they're actually being possessed. Usually a family member contacts me or someone I know like Enzo because they can't go to the police about it. It just depends on the job."

"Not on the money?"

Dante shook his head, "Only if I'm in dire straights. I'm not getting paid for the mission at Black Wing either."

Regan narrowed her brows. That was news to her. "Why not?"

"The guy who put the payment out was your brother," Dante informed her, "I didn't know it at the time though."

"Oh," Regan started, taking a breath, about to say something else when she was interrupted, Enzo coming back inside and telling them that he was done. Dante saw the look on Regan's face as if she were concentrating on some things, and he just decided to let it go for now. Instead, he glanced back as Enzo walked up to the desk and leaned against it, being quiet for the moment.

"So, what the hell's this job you're coming to me at eight in the evening about?" Dante asked him whenever he just stood there and seemed to wait.

"I thought you were closed?"

Dante sighed, "I figured I'd listen for later when I'm open. So what is it?"

"Well," Enzo started, "there's a guy who lives over on Sycamore."

"That's a crap end of town," Dante told him, "not a good way to start out your job description."

"Just listen," Enzo insisted. "He's got a 15 year old daughter named Bridget who's been acting a bit strange lately. He said she seemed to be really happy for a while, and he wasn't sure why, but not long afterwards, she started getting really violent from time to time, even went so far as to hurt an old woman who lived in the neighborhood for being so slow when she walked by pushing her along more quickly and roughly. Though he said she always seems to be sad for what she's done, so he can't figure out why she's doing it to begin with."

"So the kids got turrets, what's your point?"

Enzo rolled his eyes, having gotten used to Dante's cynicism, "My point is that her father got interested and started spying on her, saw her heading down to a boarding house one night and meeting a guy. He said they talked for a while and the man grabbed her arms and it looked like he electrocuted her or something, with his bare hands, and she left not long after that, perfectly fine. He's offering five k's for it. I told him I'd come to see you."

"Okay," Dante started, "so maybe he's got something. Sycamore street?"

Enzo nodded, "You taking the job?"

"I might poke around a bit and see what I can find. Later." Dante shoved the rest of his pizza into his mouth and looked at Enzo, dusting his hands off, "When I'm open again."

"Aye yi yi," Enzo sighed, turning and lifting his hand up, "I'll see ya around, Dante."

Dante let him go and sat his feet on the floor, drinking the rest of the beer in his can and tossing it across the room without much thought and into the trash can. At his casually made movements, Marvin shook his head, "Emergency 911 responding," he spoke sarcastically. "Not interested?"

Dante shrugged, "The guy lives in the crap end of town, you can bet your life 5 k's is all he's got to his name, and I'm surprised it's _that_ much. I'll just pass the information on to Lady tomorrow when I see her, I owe her money anyway, so it should help my debt out a bit. It sounds like a job she could handle."

"Or you could just do it yourself before this kid gets hurt and then give the money to Lady later," Regan suggested.

Dante snorted, "I could, but I'd rather save myself the trouble right now. Besides, I don't trust myself, I'd take the money and not let her know I had it probably. After all, I just got back from a shitty mission anyway, I thought I could use the break." With those words, he began walking up the steps, having grabbed his guitar case carrying his sword on the way, adding, "Just box the rest of the pizza up when you're done with it, and turn the lights off when you leave, alright?" He knew they wouldn't get into anything, and with those words, he shut the door to the area upstairs.

Regan blinked and then she looked over at Marvin and shrugged a bit. Marvin smiled, finishing off his own food and closed the pizza box, "Guy doesn't have a care in the world, does he?"

"No," Regan replied, helping him to finish getting the pizza's together, a box and a half left of the food. "I guess not." She thought about that for a moment, and then pushed it away from her mind, concentrating on what she was doing instead. "Let's just split this up and leave half here for him. If he doesn't have any food, he'll probably be grateful for the leftovers."

Marvin agreed, leaning in to help Evelyn get off of the desk, and he asked her, "You okay? You seem a little down."

"Nah," Regan waved her hand dismissively, "Just thinking about stuff, I'm okay. Let's go see the hotel room we booked, shall we?" Smiling at Evelyn as they started walking to the door, Regan stopped suddenly and she said, "I'll be right out, I forgot something." Marvin nodded at her and he opened the doors, letting Evelyn outside before he followed her, and Regan walked to the bottom of the steps and asked, "Dante?"

No answer. Narrowing her brows, she moved up them quietly and then knocked on the door once she got to the top, "Dante? I forgot to get your phone number here incase I need to call you."

It was silent. Regan waited and asked his name again, then she reached for the door knob and pushed it open. There was a bedroom beyond it and an open window, but Dante was no where to be found, only an open guitar case, empty.

Regan couldn't help but smile at the sight. Sighing, she looked back at the window and muttered, "Break my ass. And you act like you don't care."


	18. Wrong Way

_Wrong Way_

It was the middle of the night. About three in the morning. Regan was asleep in the hotel room, which was nice. It was adjacent to the room in which Marvin was sleeping in, and Regan had woken up because she thought she'd heard an odd noise, like someone calling her name, but she wasn't too sure. Deciding it had just been a dream, she realized that Evelyn wasn't there, and she got up and went to the door of Marvin's room. Opening it quietly, she peered in, seeing the man asleep, Evelyn on his opposite side, and she could only wonder why the little girl had moved in the middle of the night like that.

Regan pursed her lips to the side and shut the door, moving to the balcony and opening the door, stepping outside after throwing her robe on which had been laying across the back of the sofa in the room. Putting her bedroom slippers on once the door was open, she walked out, and looked over the city from what she could see of it, all of the blinking lights, the bridge in the distance over the water. It was a clear night, the moon was a bright crescent in the sky, and everything seemed to be peaceful actually, except for the honking horns and sirens in the distance. But even those sounds weren't intrusive.

Her thoughts went back to Evelyn, and Regan wondered if the little girl felt closer to Marvin than to her own aunt. But why wouldn't she? She'd only known Regan a few days longer, and in that time, since she'd known Regan, hell, the very day she'd met Regan, her father had been killed. Maybe Regan had been selfish somehow, too worried about herself to pay attention to Evelyn. Who was to say, that was, of course, unless Regan asked, which she didn't think she could.

She leaned down on her forearms, watching the night sky, unable to see many shooting stars because of the lights in the city before her, and she just thought to herself about everything. She'd made plans to go back to Devil May Cry in the morning just to get Dante's phone number incase she needed him, and wondered if Dante would try to throw that in her face about wanting to see him as well. But she was also going to go run other errands too, so hopefully her quick dismissal would put him in his place.

It was cold though, and Regan decided to go back in. As she did, she saw Demoncaller sitting there on the table, had been looking at it earlier while Evelyn was asleep, then gone to bed herself, and she gripped the handle and tilted her head as she examined it. She hadn't said anything, but it was strange that she could feel some kind of power emanating from the blade, and wondered if all of these types of demonic weapons did that.

She then drew the blade up slowly and ran her free fingers down and across the hilt, attempting to turn the blade in fashions that would allow her to see how the weapon felt to be moved about with her person. The blade seemed to be somewhat lightweight but still heavy enough to cause some good damage if it was used right, and as she moved, she somehow felt as if she could see herself learning to do more of it, and she wasn't sure how, she just felt that way.

But she suddenly heard her name and she gasped, turning around, the blade swinging with her. She almost dropped it, managing to keep her fingers around the handle, and being the only weapon she had, cursing herself for having not pulled out her magnum instead, she tightened her grip to use the blade as a defense if push came to shove. The voice that had said her name had been somewhat low, drawn out, and demonic she couldn't help but noticing. What or who'd said it, though, she had no clue.

Moving closer to the balcony doors, Demoncaller still in her hands, held up at a good angle, she looked outside, beyond the glass balcony doors of her hotel room. Suddenly, she gasped and made a slight yell as something landed in front of her on the balcony, but stopped herself when she realized that the object which had landed there was just Dante, and she didn't want to wake her room mates up.

Regan took a deep breath, putting her hand over her now hard thumping heart, and she grabbed the handle of the door and opened it. "What are you doing here?" She asked with narrowed brows.

Dante lifted his own brow, looking her over and shaking his head, telling her, "First of all, you were holding it all wrong. Second, I thought I'd come by to see you because of that note you left me."

"What note?"

"The one in my office under my phone." He walked into the hotel room and shut the door, then looked over at her as she sat the sword back down onto the table.

"Oh," Regan remembered, having left him a note just before she'd gone to the hotel about his number to let him know she'd be back by later for it. Looking over at him, she nodded, "Well, I couldn't find you after you went upstairs. Where'd you go?"

Dante shrugged, "I was too wired to crash, besides, I thought a couple rounds at the bar would be nice."

"With your sword?" She asked him, smirking a bit knowlingly.

"Never know," he pointed out to her, "might've gotten attacked along the way. It's happened before. And what about you? Just some late night home run practice?"

"Huh?" Regan asked, looking confused.

"You were holding it like a baseball bat," he motioned to Demoncaller.

Regan glanced at the sword, and then she smirked and squeezed her eyes shut. "You know," she started, turning her head back in his direction, "I thought I heard something calling my name just a few minutes before you jumped onto the balcony. Speaking of which, where the hell did you come from?"

"The roof," he replied, smirking over it, and asking her, "What did you hear?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "but I thought I heard the same thing when I woke up too. Just this low 'Reeegaaan'," she mimicked it on a low voice, "any ideas?"

Demons, Dante decided, but didn't mention it, "Maybe if you do that voice again."

"No," Regan grinned, "you're just looking for a reason to pick at me."

"I've got plenty of reason to pick at you already," he told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her over to himself, letting his mouth cover hers, kissing her thoroughly, his tongue snaking into her mouth slowly, rubbing hers with it. Regan's eyes closed and she snaked her arms around him, returning the kiss he was giving her, breathing deeply into it with her newfound blush. Did he really have to feel so warm and good all over?

It lasted for several moments before he pulled back, Dante taking a breath and then glancing down at her, watching her for a moment, telling her, "Like the way you breath so hard when all I do is kiss you."

"I can't help it," she replied, "you're just a damned good kisser and we haven't kissed like that since...," she trailed off.

Dante pulled her fully up against him, lifting her off of the floor, moving over to the bed, finishing her statement for her at the same time. "Since we fucked?"

Her blush grew. Nodding her head, she leaned up herself and kissed him once more, felt him tilting her back across the bed, which caused her to pull her lips away and turn her head. That didn't prevent Dante from kissing her throat though. "Dante," she said, "stop...," she was trailing because he was sucking against her throat and then her ear, which was making her dizzy," stop...Marvin...and..."

"Somehow I don't think Marvin would be interested in a three way."

The words snapped her back to reality like a glass of cold water to the face. "Pervert," she muttered, "no, him and Evelyn are in the next room."

"You think you're gonna scream?" He asked with a lascivious grin, tugging on the tie of her robe, opening it.

"Dante," she whispered loudly, grabbing his hands, "would you just behave?"

Dante smirked, then he rolled off of her, but pulled her with him, sitting against the headboard of the bed with her on his lap, asking her, "If you want, we can always go back to my place. I can have ya back here before sunup."

Regan was shaking her head already, but there was a little smile plastered on her lips about the whole thing. "You're shameless. No, I feel guilty enough already."

"About what?"

"Evelyn," she told him, "I don't think she likes me very much. I feel like I've been deserting her."

"Of course she likes you, she's always grabbing your leg or holding your hand, mine too for that matter, and most kids hate me."

Regan snorted, thinking of what he called the Brat Brigade, and she leaned her head on his shoulder with a sigh. "I don't know. She just seems friendlier with Marvin than with me, like she's always so thrilled to see him. She even went into his room while I was asleep and laid down."

"Well she's used to a man," Dante told her, "she didn't have a mother, so she probably feels more comfortable with Marvin."

Regan lifted her head up and looked at him. It made sense. She nodded, smiling, then told him, "I guess you're right. Not to mention he lost his family, so I suppose they just suit each other well."

Dante gave Regan an arrogant little smirk as if to say 'told ya so' which made her grumble a bit and roll her eyes, and he then asked, "Feel like going to the movies?"

"Dante, it's three in the morning. I don't think they're open."

"They don't have to be," he informed her. "I know the guy who owns the place. He had a problem I helped him with and he lets me go there whenever I want."

Regan looked around in thought for a moment and drew in her breath. "I don't know, Dante. What about Evelyn and Marvin?"

"They're asleep, but if you want, I'll go wake them."

Regan smacked his upper arm, grinning, "No, stupid, I meant what if something happens?"

"I think Marvin can handle it, it's not like you guys are completely alone, there's people all over this hotel room, not to mention he survived for three days or so with his own hometown trying to kill him. They'll be fine."

Damn him and his actual sense of logic he only used when it suited him. Regan was trying her damnedest not to smile, but she was failing miserably. In all honesty she was actually excited at the prospect of going out somewhere with him again, like they had when they were riding the horse in the snow, remembering the ridiculous songs they'd come up with. "Alright, then what's on the menu for a movie?"

"Well, he has this old zombie flick I haven't seen in a while that I used to watch as a kid, it's horrible."

"Horrible as in horror, or just horribly funny?"

"Horribly funny," he smirked mischievously. "Both if you wanna be technical about it. Scared me when I was a kid though."

Regan smiled, the thought of him being scared of anything somehow being very amusing to her. But it reminded her of his humanity and that he actually did have a big heart in him, and so she pushed herself up with a smile, nodding, "Alright then, let me get dressed. I won't be long."

Dante pushed himself up as well, watching her going into the bathroom where their suitcases were and shutting the door behind herself. He waited and as he did so, he walked over to the table where Demoncaller lay. It was a pretty nice Devil Arm from what he could see. As he looked the weapon over, Rebellion still on his own back from earlier, he considered what he'd done that night, heading over to Sycamore Street, finding that girl and the demon who'd been influencing her. Once he'd dispatched the demon, it's powers left the girl and caused her to become weak and pass out. Dante carried her back to her home, and handed her directly to her father because the man was outside on his front porch whenever he came walking up, Dante had to talk to him anyway in order to find out more details about the kid.

Normally he wasn't so direct about such a matter. He would have taken back alleys and the like to return her home, but he was so damned happy to have a job done and over with so quickly that he just really didn't care. When the girls father took her, he was so grateful he offered Dante anything he wanted, had the money in a suitcase for Dante ready to hand it over. But Dante knew the story, he had eyes, could see the run down house they were living in, and knew that whatever deal his daughter had made with the demon was to help her family out financially even more, telling Dante that they were in dire straights when it came to money.

Dante had told him not to worry about it, even when the man pleaded with him as he just walked off, not interested in it. The last thing Dante had told him was to keep holding onto his money in order to get them out of there, that was, if he wanted to do anything at all. From there, Dante left without another word, heading back home directly.

Once he'd gotten there though, considering he'd probably just get some sleep, Dante had found himself alone and thinking about Regan, which was his real excuse for having come to the hotel room that night. Her note, which had simply said she'd be back in the afternoon since she knew he was a night owl in order to get his phone number, had given him the perfect excuse though. He didn't want to admit that he just wanted to see her again, didn't feel like sitting at home when he'd been hanging around her so much over the past few weeks, and so he'd left again. He got a feeling he knew what it all meant, and while it scared him a little bit, he also didn't even admit to _that_ in his own mind.

Nope, he was still the same old guy as usual.

Regan came walking back out of the bathroom in a pair of jeans, boots, and a black shirt that had long sleeves which flared out along her arms. She grabbed her thigh length jacket and started putting it on. Dante watched her somewhat quietly, thinking to himself about how pretty she was, and he rolled his eyes when he realized that, hearing her asking him, "You're awfully quiet, not changing your mind as soon as I'm dressed, are you?"

"Nah," he replied, "just thinking about how I'd rather go to my place, but you know, gotta let a girl have her way first."

Regan pursed her lips at him in a smirk. "You're a liar," she informed him, "you're just mad you didn't jump onto that balcony to find me and Lady getting it on."

And there was another thing he liked about her, Dante thought, she was saucy and witty. Smirking, he took her hand before she could head to the front door and told her, "Wrong way."

"Well apparently I'm doing _everything_ wrong tonight. So what's the right way?"

He started heading toward the balcony. When he did, Regan blinked a few times, asking him, "You're not expecting me to jump off of the balcony with you, are you?"

"Actually, I'm expecting you to hop over onto that building over there with me. There's a fire escape that winds down the side of the building that we can use to get to the movie theater."

Regan looked over at the building he was talking about, then glancing down slowly at the road, which was about ten stories beneath them, and finally up at his face as if he were crazy, shaking her head. Dante grinned and hopped up onto the balconies railing, standing on the narrow strip of metal as if it were nothing, holding his hand out to her.

"Don't you trust me yet?"

"No," she insisted, looking back at the building, telling him, "That's a good thirty or forty feet, Dante. Can't I just try five for my first jump?"

Dante snorted in amusement and he took her hand, pulling her up there with him. She refused to look down once she was on the railing and held her arm around his back very tightly. "You've done this before, right?" Her voice was laced with uncertainty.

"Nope," he grinned, then he told her, "just hold onto me."

"Fuck," she cussed as he leaned down as if to gather some momentum for himself whenever he pushed off, and then leapt into the air high and wide. Regan decided to add her own strength to it if she could, pushing off with him, and she held onto him for dear life as they began flying through the air.

They began to descend toward the ground as they'd flown at an arc, and Regan watched the roof top nearing them, but she could already tell they were going to fall just a bit short. "Dante!," she gasped whenever she noticed this, but she suddenly grunted. She wasn't sure what had happened, having seen a flash of red beneath them, but it seemed as if Dante had just pushed himself back into the air just before they could fall any further, as if he'd landed on a platform for a moment, and then he leapt over to the rooftop safely.

Regan was wide eyed. She couldn't help herself. Turning her face up to him, she just stared blankly, not sure what to think. Dante smiled, grabbing the hilt of his sword, telling her, "Devil arms are for more than just looks, ya know?"

"No," she shook her head slowly, sounding and actually being dumbfounded, "I didn't know that." It was only then that she realized as well that he'd been carrying Demoncaller with him. Seeing it, her eyes following his hand as he lowered it again, she pointed and asked, "Why'd you bring that along?"

Looking down, Dante turned and handed it to her. "I want you to get into a habit of taking it with you."

"But, where am I going to put it?" She asked, folding her fingers around it and pulling it to her side slowly. "I don't have a nifty guitar case like you do."

"Wear a longer coat and tie it to your belt. She's not as big as Rebellion is, she'll be easy to hide."

Regan pursed her lips again with a loud sigh through her nose, looking at the sword, then giving him a bland expression, "You're still picking at me," she pointed out as they started walking. "Haha, look at the newbie."

Grinning, Dante told her, "No way, babe, though it is funny, that look you had on your face, 'Dante, oh no, we're gonna fall!'," he mocked her, grinning over it.

Regan pushed on his shoulder from behind though she was grinning, saying, "Jerk," before she followed him down the fire escape. "I can't help it, I'm scared of heights."

"You're cute when you're scared."

"Apparently I'm cute when I do anything, slick," she muttered drolly, the sounds of their footsteps clanking against the metal of the fire escape as they climbed down it.

It should prove to be an interesting, fun night.

---

The figure moved throughout the dark of the night. The alleyways were empty, littered with the trash that had overflown the dumpsters sitting there, and a few homeless passed out against the sides of the buildings, bundled up in old, dirty blankets in order to keep warm. It was a lachrymose scene that fell oblivious to the figure walking among it. As the cloaked figure passed them, ignored them, he suddenly stopped at one near the exit of the alleyway and then turned to look at him, standing statuesquely still, only the black clothe of the cloak he wore drifting in the breeze of the wind down the alley moving at all on his body. Something had caught his attention.

This one had the scent of death all around him. Such a frail being, cold, alone, dying, and no one willing to help him. This was the way of the human world. This was how they treated those they did not care for. They left them out in the dark to die like an unwanted pest. It went much the same way for things they didn't understand or care to understand as well. That was what made them easy victims. That was what made it easy for him to do what he needed to and get away with it without any interferences at all hardly. So much easier and different from what he was used to.

But the scent of death lingering around this one was somehow refreshing, familiar, and the figure stood there for several moments, simply watching the man die. The natural course of death set over his body, his breathing having come a bit erratically until it was finally exhaled thoroughly and properly, his pupils dilating to their widest circumference, and his head laid back against the cold concrete and the wall lifelessly.

The figure remained still. After the body died, it began to dissolve apart, particles of it moving in toward his form, the flesh and blood melding itself over the figures own body, meshing to form a more complete structure hidden beneath the cloak, until nothing more was left of the body but a pile of bones without a cause or a purpose. No one made a sound, no one was around, and they didn't see this event happening. Everything became silent and still once again.

The figure turned away without thought or care to the dead himself and walked to the end of the alleyway before stopping, his hood blowing back off of his head, revealing a completely hairless face that was perhaps, in a way, even androgynous, the eyes such a light silver they nearly appeared white. One the sides and back of his head were a few reddish to purplish marks, as if he still had a very short way to go in order to complete his form.

A cop car drove by quickly, its sirens wailing, and he continued to stare ahead, ignoring it. However, the sound of another vehicle could be heard just behind him, its headlights moving across the back of his body as it came to a stop, and the drivers side door opened. The police officer got out of the car, looking ahead at the man just standing at the end of the alleyway and he narrowed his brows. What the hell was this?

With a sigh, the officer walked ahead and called out, flashlight in hand, "Sir?"

The man slowly turned around and faced the person speaking to him. The police officer watched him, asked him, "I need you to evacuate the alleyway. Could you kindly move on?" The building had recently become a crime scene, and the policeman needed to set up a perimeter.

The man didn't move or speak, he didn't budge from his spot. With a sigh, the police officer wondered if he was deaf, could see the man looked strangely enough, and figured perhaps he couldn't hear or speak. "Did you hear me, sir?" He asked.

Silence, and still no movement. The bald man continued to stand there, and with a sigh, the policeman got on his radio when he heard someone signaling him, "This is unit 5, I've come across an adult male Caucasian in his early twenties, bald, about 5'9", which I'm proceeding to evacuate from the area. Over."

It was at that moment that the officer noticed the man was moving a bit, the skin of his throat seeming to roll over muscle fluidly and transforming beneath it, as if something was taking place inside of his throat that was unseen. The officer stared disbelievingly, ignoring his radio for the moment, wondering what the hell it was that he was looking at, and he continued to stand there, ready to pull his gun just incase. "Sir? Are you alright?"

The man moved forward just a bit, opening his mouth as clicking and popping sounds came from his throat, like some kind of animal might make in the wild, but a word began to form with the sounds, turning slowly into, "Si-si-si-sir."

"Holy fuck," the policeman exclaimed softly and slowly.

"Ho-ho-holy fu-u-u-uck-k-k," came the mimicking reply. "Sir, holy fuck."

The officer had, of course, never seen anything like this before in his entire life. About to tell the man to just stay where he was so that he could request someone to come and take him off to get him help, he suddenly spied a pile of bones against the wall in the alleyway, just like the reports had described of what was inside the building. In a moments notice, the police officer somehow got the feeling that this man probably had something to do with it, and he grabbed his gun and aimed in the figures direction, telling him, "Alright, freeze, put your hands up!"

"Alright, freeze, put your hands up," came the males soft voice, sounding much more human than it had just a moment ago. He then began walking away, repeating phrases and words he'd just heard from the officer that weren't in order and made no sense, but the policeman wasn't done with him yet of course. Lifting his radio, he began to request back up, but was interrupted when he saw a long centipede crawling out of the suspects ear, and around the back of his neck, into his cloak.

"Just get them the fuck over here, hurry!" The policeman put his radio back onto his belt and then he yelled at the individual, "I said freeze, or I _will_ shoot you!"

The figure just continued on however, around the corner, and the officer pulled the trigger, hitting the corner of the building where the man had just been. He could see the mans body stumbling forward, and he ran towards the corner and around it, looking down the sidewalk, but no one was in sight. Glancing down, the officer overlooked the area where the body should have been, where it should have fallen to after he'd shot the cloaked man, but there was nothing there, only a few spiders and worms laying on the ground, crawling in different directions.

---

It was _completely_ terrible. The zombie movie was so bad it was definitely more of a comedy than a horror film. But it was an older movie, black and white, so chances stood it was only a comedy by today's standards. Regan knew that, but she still couldn't help but laugh at it.

When the movie had started, Regan got a pre-show from Dante, who'd hopped up onto the stage before starting the reel, and began giving a long speech about the horrors the movie might contain and that young children shouldn't be in the audience. When he'd said that, Regan laughed and yelled 'I guess you should leave then', and Dante just took a dramatic bow and then moved to the back, went up into the booth, and started running the reel.

When he'd sat back down next to Regan, holding the popcorn he'd popped in the machine, she couldn't help but ask him if he'd cut a hole into the bottom of the barrel, and just to make sure he hadn't, she kept the thing resting on the arm of the chair between them, grinning at him when he told her she was a spoil sport.

The entire event had been completely enjoyable for her, and she was glad she'd decided to come along. It was nice to just be out and about without reason or cause, just enjoying herself, and it was very nice to have been out with Dante for no other reason than she'd wanted to be.

Once the movie had ended, and they'd left the theater, it was about four fifteen in the morning, and Regan found herself walking through the park with Dante next to her. She felt a little odd - somehow a park didn't seem to be his thing really - but it _was_ on the way for them to make it back to the hotel, at least, without roof hopping as they'd done before anyway, and Regan thought it was nicer out there than she'd expected it to be. Trees and grass, not buildings and concrete, and some of the trees about still had leaves on them which were changing colors now due to the autumn time of the year.

"So," she started, "those were the kind of movies you grew up on, huh?"

Dante was smirking, "Well, that and the usual, Wizard of Oz, Old Yeller, things like that."

"Old Yeller?" Regan chuckled, "That's such a sappy movie."

"I know," Dante replied, reaching up for a low laying branch and ducking just a bit as he stepped under it. "So, you gonna regret being up so late tomorrow?"

He'd only asked because she'd put her hand over her mouth and yawned. Smiling, she shook her head no, telling him, "I'll be okay. Marvin will probably wake up early and let me sleep in just a bit. I hope he doesn't mind anyway." She stopped walking when she saw a swing set and she decided to pick up on Dante's sporadic habits, grabbed his hand and suddenly tugged him toward the childrens play place.

Dante blinked, looking up to see where she was suddenly going, and when he spied the swing set, he smirked, stopping with her. "Hell yeah, I haven't been on a swing in a while."

"You don't look like the type who ever _did_ swing," she grinned, sitting down in one of the bendable seats.

"Well, I liked that spinning metal wheel thing the best."

"I can see that actually," she smirked, swinging just a little bit, watching him just sit there for a moment. "What the hell are those things called? I always think of the term lazy Susan. I think it's because of those things you find on dinner tables that spin around with the food in them."

"No idea what you're talking about, cupcake, but I guess that's as good a name as any."

The endearments were apparently unending. Just when she'd thought he'd called her everything in the book, he came up with a completely new one she hadn't heard yet. Shaking her head at him over it, she pushed herself back further and swung forward faster and higher, smiling as she asked, "So, I wanna know something. Were you planning on giving me any lessons?"

"Lessons?" He asked, just watching her swing.

"Yeah," she looked over at him, "I mean with a sword. Otherwise I'm going to end up swinging a baseball bat, right?"

"Oh, that," he smirked, "I'd thought about it, but I'm honestly not the best teacher. I don't have the patience."

Regan sighed when he told her that. She really had no idea how the hell she was going to learn how to fight with the damned thing, but she did know it'd be useful considering what she'd seen so far. "Can you at least give me some pointers?"

Dante reached up and scratched the back of his head, thinking about it. "Probably could," he pushed himself up and reached out as she swung backwards in the swing past him at just the right time, snatching her off of the swing. Regan gasped when he did that, her momentum letting him swing her around in a circle until she settled onto her feet, and she stared up at him blankly for a moment. It was a good time for a kiss it felt like, but this was a bit different than the sporadic events back at the ranch when they'd slept together, it seemed much more personal now, and so she hesitated.

Dante didn't though, pulled her in closer and let his mouth descend to hers, and once he had, she reacted in kind, meeting him halfway and letting her arms snake around him again. She found her fingers moving up and into the back of his hair, the kiss becoming fairly breathless quickly as their mouths intertwined with one another, forgetting the reason they were there to begin with.

To both of them it felt good, and it felt right in some way neither of them had experienced before. It'd felt right at the Ranch too. Maybe it was in both of their persons though, but they just simply hadn't spoken of it with one another yet. But damned if either one of them wanted to stop now and speak of it either.

Regan felt herself becoming breathless, and she tugged her lips away from his gently, saying between his continued kisses, "We'd...better...stop."

"Why?" He asked, kissing her once more and pulling her in so close that he crushed her body against his.

She groaned her reaction and returned a much more thorough kiss, then spoke, "Because...if we don't...I won't...want to."

"Good," Dante told her, lifting her up and turning her so that her back was against a tree. The result was a gasp on her part, and she opened her eyes and stared at him as they continued to kiss. He didn't really want to do something out here, did he? A cop could walk by or something.

"Dante," she murmured as his lips left hers and he started kissing down the side of her neck, "we can't, not out here." She gripped his trench coat more tightly when he cupped and kneaded her breast in his large hand.

"Then I'm taking you back to the shop."

He could feel her tense up, but she let a soft moan as he moved in closer, parting her legs wider around his thighs and his red leather pants. As her crotch came into contact with his, even if it was an indirect contact, she could still feel the heat flooding through her, making her throb in anticipation. She wanted to give in, turn her head, and kiss him with as much skill as she could muster, but she reached up her arms and pushed at him instead, telling him, "Please, just wait."

"Gettin' tired of waitin'," he informed her, groaning as he found a bit of control and stopped for her sakes. Pushing himself back, his arms on the tree trunk by either side of her head, he took a deep breath in order to contain himself, and Regan stared up at him for a moment, knew how badly they both wanted to give in to instinct, but she would rather have somewhere more private to go to first.

"I'm sorry, Dante," she told him, giving him a look that said she felt sympathetic, "I'm just not comfortable being out here."

Still trying to get himself contained, finally feeling a bit more comfortable as he took a deep breath after she'd spoke her words to him, he started "Well," and pushed himself away from the tree, taking her hand and beginning to walk, "then Devil May Cry it is."

"What?" She narrowed her brows, walking along with him. "No, I have to go back to the hotel."

"You can later."

"Dante, later Marvin might be awake and wondering where I am. It's not exactly like I left him a note or anything. I can't just dump them."

Dante took a deep breath for patience. This was gonna be a lot more frustrating than he'd thought. He knew she was right, she couldn't just dump Marvin and Evelyn to go off and fuck, but damned if he could say he didn't want her to. Stopping, he turned and looked down at her, not a half a foot from her, and he told her, "I'm not asking you to stay with me. I'd like to, but I know it ain't gonna happen."

Regan stared up at him, brows narrowed, and she couldn't help but ask him, "You'd like to? So are you saying you just wanna have me around so I can spread my legs whenever you want me to?"

"No," Dante rolled his eyes, turning away from her a bit, hating how women flipped men's words around on them like that. He groaned and then looked back at her, asking, "Didn't you just say you wouldn't wanna stop? You're just as interested in it as I am. It's just frustrating."

"Then you're saying my having an obligation to a child is frustrating."

"Yes," he told her flat out, was a bit too riled anymore to care how angry she got at him. "It's a fucking pain in the ass, or the dick, especially in this case."

"A pain in the dick?," she asked him, pulling her hand away, "Wouldn't _you_ call that a headache, Dante Sparda? Cause I think that's what you use to think with."

She started walking away from him, but damned if Dante was going to let it end on that note. He reached out and grabbed her arm, turning her around to face him, holding onto her wrist to make sure she couldn't get away from him. Regan spun around and glared up at him with a fire in her green eyes that almost made them look amber.

"You're not gettin' away that easy, sweetheart, not thinkin' I just want you in the sack anyway."

"Isn't that all it is?" She asked him pointedly.

"Hell no, if it was, I wouldn't have bothered taking you out anywhere tonight. You act like the only thing I ever asked for was pussy, like it's the only reason I met you to begin with." He let go of her arm, taking a deep breath and groaning it out, walking past her this time. "You know what, never mind, think what you will."

Regan watched him leaving, was highly surprised by the turn of events, and she suddenly realized that maybe she _had_ acted without thinking about it. "Dante?" She asked, but he didn't stop, and so she ran to catch up with him, the tables turning from before to the point where she took his arm in both of her hands and looked up at him, hoping he'd stop. "I'm sorry, I got scared. I've never felt like this before, and I don't know what it all means. It feels like I'm going the wrong way on a one way street almost. It's just confusing."

"You and me both," he grumbled, stopping finally to look down at her. The fire had drained from her eyes and she looked sincerely apologetic, and he didn't feel content or compelled to keep up their arguing. "We're feeling our way around in the dark apparently." His own ire hadn't been all that bad to begin with, but he had been annoyed.

Regan nodded in agreement with his words. "Yeah, the power went out I suppose," she looked down with a bit of shame over it. Then, apparently, both their minds went along the same lines, and Regan spoked before he could, "Bet you wanna do that in real life, huh?"

"Beat me to the punch line," he smiled again finally. "Alright, I'm taking you back to the hotel room tonight."

"Okay, but tomorrow evening, I'm coming back to the shop. Is that a deal?"

"Sounds like it."

"Good," she grinned, glad they'd come to a compromise on the issue. At least they could agree on some things, and not continue to bicker over them like fussy little children. Though she still held firm in her belief that he _was_ partly a child, the thought continuing her smile at him. He would have probably agreed with her. But Regan pushed the thoughts from her head. She then slyly slipped her arm around his back in a cheesy fashion she knew he could appreciate, "So, you're never going to get around to showing me any kind of swordplay, are you? You really _are_ a shitty teacher."

Dante just chuckled over the words as they left the park together, didn't mind placing his own arm over her shoulders. It was nice after all, to not be alone, to be able to do things the wrong way and then fix them without much trouble.

Come to think of it, it seemed like everyone was _all_ heading the wrong way down a one way street sometimes. It didn't surprise him considering the state of the world. With that thought in mind, he took Regan home.


	19. Telepathy

_Telepathy_

The front doors to the Devil May Cry shop opened. Following the movement of the inanimate objects, Lady made her way inside and looked around at the empty place, ceiling fan swinging slowly, the girls still posted up on the walls in pictures like always, a few multi-colored marble balls laying on the green surface of the pool table, and Dante's desk sitting lonely at the head of the room. Figures, she thought to herself, it was noon and he was still in bed.

Or not. No sooner than she'd had that thought, Lady heard the door opening in the back and watched as a moment later the devil hunter came walking out of his back hallway, shirtless, damp, and drying his hair with a towel. Shaking her head, Lady decided to let him know of her presence there. She was a bit surprised he was actually awake so early, according to his standards anyways, and had planned to go wake him up if he was asleep. But since he was already down there and awake, she just commented on it.

"Well, this is a surprise. I thought I'd have to threaten you with a gun in order to wake you up. Have a boring night or something?"

Dante pulled the towel from his head and glanced up through his wild, damp locks, seeing Lady standing there near his desk after she'd spoken. Well aware of the time, he shrugged his broad shoulders a bit and headed over to the desk after tossing his towel at a hamper behind himself in the hallway, and it landed inside of the barrel like a hole in one. That was one point of merit Lady could give to Dante. Sure he wasn't a neat guy, but he took good care of his clothes and laundry. She knew it was an ego thing on his part, but at least he didn't have shit laying all over the place like a lot of guys did.

"Something like that," Dante replied to her, thinking about the night before and the how he and Regan had argued, inevitably leading to her return to the hotel room until sometime later today. "So what brings you here at this hour, knowing I'd be sawing logs on a normal day?"

As Dante asked the question, he went and sat down at his chair behind the desk, flipping open a box of pizza he'd left on it - a testament to his sloppiness - to see that it was empty, followed by simply letting it shut again. Afterwards, he glanced up at Lady who'd leaned a hand next to the empty box and waited for her reply. When he did, he saw a smirk settled on her face beneath her bi-colored eyes, and he lifted a brow. Maybe she had some good news.

"Guess who's back in town?"

Dante narrowed a brow. Reaching up to scratch his head, he asked sarcastically, "Those sorority girls I met last summer?"

Lady rolled her eyes and sighed, "No, Dante, think closer to home, in the world of hunting. Think _small_," she emphasized.

The look on his face at the word 'small' told her he knew _exactly_ who she was talking about. "No shit? Haven't seen that little punk in ages."

"Well, he's back, running his shop again personally. I was actually curious if Regan was around, I figured he might be a big help to her considering how much he knows."

At the mention of Regan, Lady watched Dante sigh a bit. "Nah, Regan went back to the hotel room last night. She'll be by later more than likely though."

Lady lifted a brow, then she smiled, standing up straight again in order to fold her arms over her chest. Spying the smile on her face, Dante asked, "What?"

"Nothing at all, Dante," Lady replied.

"Wait a second," Dante stood back up, leaning on his arms, giving her a knowing look with his icy blues, "I know what you're thinkin'."

"What's that?" She returned, her voice a good bit coy.

Dante just shook his head, telling her, "I'm not saying it, cause it's not true."

Lady gave Dante a long look that said he was full of shit. She knew better than that. Regan was curling her way up inside of the devil hunter, and he wouldn't even admit it. Chuckling over it, Lady told him, "You're just lying to yourself, Dante, any idiot with half a brain can tell you're completely smitten."

"No, see, that's where you're wrong." Dante stood up straight again, shaking his head at her, cocky smirk in place, "I'm not smitten, and I have no reason to deny it if I was."

"Alright, then you're in love," Lady returned, hiding the grin that was threatening her face. "Who woulda guessed Dante would fall in love with a woman he was working a case with. Gee, I certainly wouldn't have," she added sarcastically, remembering their first meeting and the way he'd nearly always shamelessly flirted with her.

"No I'm not," Dante rolled his eyes, "if I was in love, I woulda drug her back here last night kicking and screaming to have my way with her."

Lady wasn't going to argue. Instead, she simply shook her head and turned to walk away, saying, "Whatever you wanna think, Casanova, but the reason you _didn't_ drag her back here is why you're smitten." Once Lady had made it to the door, she looked back, adding, "Just tell her when she gets here for me, if you would please."

"Tell her what?" Dante asked with a raised brow.

"About Imp," Lady reminded him, "and you could tell her how you feel too. But I'm not gonna ask you to do that because I know you're pigheaded."

Dante scoffed, watching Lady just turn to leave with a little shake of her head. How he felt? Yeah, he was interested in the woman, but he wasn't smitten with her. Attracted to her, but not smitten with her. Had fun with her, and enjoyed her company, but...

Who was he kidding?

Dante snorted at his line of thinking, trying to convince himself what Lady had suggested was all a lie. Maybe he was, but just because he liked the woman didn't mean he wanted to settle down with her or anything, didn't even mean he loved her. Dante grumbled slightly and turned to go get dressed completely. He just needed something to preoccupy himself. After all, fighting with himself over his possible feelings for someone wasn't what he'd planned to do that day - or any day for that matter. Ever. No way. No woman was worth a soul search for possible feelings.

As the day progressed though, no matter what he did, he randomly found his thoughts returning to what Lady had suggested earlier, and he felt like finding her and choking her for putting the idea there. He had been content to live in denial. But now, Regan popped into his head every so often, and he just couldn't shake it. Just how much _did_ he like the woman after all? It almost floored him how his denial had been such a safe haven until now, having not even considered his feelings for her really until it'd been brought out in the open as it had, and it nearly floored him.

It wasn't something he was completely used to, and while it didn't make him uncomfortable, he also didn't know what to think about it.

But Dante managed to figure out that it wasn't like anything had changed. He'd just continue doing what he'd been doing with Regan, flirting, throwing out the random endearments, and getting a kick out of her negative reactions. It wasn't like he had to go buy her flowers or get her chocolates, or take her shopping and hold her purse while she made her selections - a thought he shivered over - so when Regan finally showed up at his shop later, his greeted her with the same type of welcome he usually did.

"Where ya been, cutie, I got lonely waitin' on ya."

As she walked in, the line caused her to shake her head at him slowly. Same old, same old, she considered. Coming to stand before his desk, Regan just told him, "Sorry, I was shanghaied last night into watching some stupid movie with a guy before he started mauling me in a kids park on the way home. He was a creepy bastard and kept me out late. I just woke up about two hours ago."

Dante snorted in amusement, thinking that was another reason he liked her, she had a great sense of humor. Turning a smirk up at her face, his arms behind his head, he asked, "Oh yeah? You gonna see him again tonight?"

Regan groaned sarcastically, telling Dante with a little grin, "Had to, it was the only way I could get rid of him."

They were both amused over the banter, and Regan, who'd leaned her hip against the side of his desk, noticed that he had a bit of hair sticking up, and it was annoying her, kind of like when you saw someone walking around with a piece of lent on their shirt or in their hair that they didn't know about and you just wanted to pull it off. So she reached out and told him, "Okay, that's driving me crazy," pushing the strand of hair down to the side.

"What?" He lifted a brow over her actions.

"Your hair was sticking up," she smirked.

Dante looked up at his hair, from what he could see of it anyway and then he shrugged a shoulder at her, reaching an arm out to hook around her back now that she was within an arms reach, pulling her over once he'd done so. Regan sat on his lap without much trouble, lifting a slender brow as she looked at him. "You must've really been lonely, huh?" She smiled playfully.

"I was actually thinking about you earlier."

"Oh yeah? Good or bad?"

"Maybe a little of both, but the bad parts were all dirty of course."

"Figures," Regan grinned, "I've come to expect perverseness from you on a regular basis." And indeed she had. But Regan wasn't too completely bothered by it - that was, as long as he didn't embarrass her in front of someone else with it, which she knew somewhere deep down inside that the devil hunter whose lap she was currently sitting in was definitely capable of it - and so she changed the subject. "So, you got anything to do today?"

"Yeah, I do actually," he replied, "I have someone to take you to see, someone I haven't seen in ages myself. Lady came by earlier to let me know he was back in town."

"Oh? And who is this?"

Dante shrugged, "A guy I like to go see sometimes when I'm stumped on shit. He knows a good deal of information, and I think he could probably help you out with this ritual thing you're supposed to be a of part of."

Regan thought about it for a moment, wondering who the guy was and what he could know. With a slight shrug of her shoulders, she also smirked when she realized what Dante had said about how he'd gotten the information that this guy was back in town to begin with. Giving him a little smirk, she tilted her head a bit as if considering something.

"I'm starting to definitely think that Lady's the brain's of this operation."

Dante seemed to consider it for a moment, then just shrugged a little bit as if he wasn't sure one way or the other. "We both come across leads about evenly. After all, I'm the guy who found Imp in the first place."

"Imp?," Regan asked, "What kind of a name is that?"

Dante thought about the name for a second, then he just grinned over it. "You'll find out when you meet him. For now, I'm more interested in–"

The phone rang, cutting him off. Regan just smirked as she could tell from the way his voice had gotten a bit mischievous that he was probably about to do something otherwise considered lewd so to speak. Instead though, he just sighed and let her get up, taking the phone and placing it to his ear with the usual greeting.

Chuckling, Regan went to the door and she looked outside when she heard some thunder rumbling in the distance. Seeing the clouds that were gathering, the storm that was coming, she wondered how long it would last, or if it would even hit Capulet City at all. But it'd gotten fairly humid out, so she could only imagine that it would. She then put her thoughts onto Evelyn and Marvin for the moment, the fact that they'd spent most of the day heading to different places to have errands taken care of, such as looking for work, glad they'd gotten in before the storm had hit.

Marvin was interested in joining the police force in the city, and once they'd taken a look into things, they took Evelyn to do a little shopping, and then headed back to the hotel. Evelyn fell asleep not too long later for a late afternoon nap, but only after she and Marvin knew that Regan was going to head back to Devil May Cry.

Regan chuckled over the idea. She'd asked them both to come with her, but Evelyn had said she was sleepy, and Marvin had declined, telling her that all of the walking put a strain on his feet and he was just going to relax for a little while. Regan knew that was a lie, and she'd tried to convince them to come anyway, but hearing Evelyn was tired, she let the little girl go take a nap, and only wished they would have come along, knowing Dante might've been annoyed by their presence, the one reason she'd asked to begin with. Finding ways to annoy Dante just amused her. Though there was a side of her that was celebrating too, as selfish as Regan knew that was to admit, since she'd have some time alone with the man, though she could only wonder what that time might lead to.

But she couldn't help it. She'd grown a bit nervous, and mostly because sometimes she just couldn't stop thinking about Dante. Damn him. Breathing out slowly now, standing at the doors of his shop, considering how her heart had started skipping beats when he'd pulled her onto his lap, she could only imagine how much he'd picked at her if he knew how his touches affected her so adversely, not to mention take for granted the same fact. But somehow Regan didn't want him to know how much she'd come to like him, she just somehow didn't think he'd really care to have that kind of affection at all, not at this point anyway.

But she was pleasantly surprised also. She wasn't sure what he wanted to do that day - had he just wanted to go upstairs to mess around, she probably would have died from both anger and a heart that didn't want to beat properly whenever she was with him - and when he'd mentioned this Imp person, along with a chance to find out what was going on around them, she felt a great deal of relief flooding through her, as if a new window had been opened for her. It made her like the devil hunter even more somehow.

Turning around, Regan thought to ask him once she saw him get off of the phone exactly when he wanted to head over to see Imp, but Dante was no longer at his desk. Instead, he was standing right behind her almost, and he scared her so much that she jumped and bumped her head against the door.

"Ow!"

Despite the slight flash of light she saw and the sharp pain working its way through her cranium shortly following it, Regan could've sworn, as she reached up to grab her head, that she heard an amused snort coming from Dante's throat.

"It's not funny," she muttered pathetically, her eyes shut tightly as if to wince out the pain, feeling his hands taking hers so he could look at the back of her head.

"As long as you're okay," Dante started as he began to inspect her, seeing she hadn't broken any skin or otherwise harmed herself, "it is."

He'd parted her red tresses to each side as he'd pulled her forward to inspect her head, which put her face against his shirt-covered chest, but she didn't fight him, just let him look, felt him rubbing his fingers into the area she'd apparently hit. But she rolled her eyes at his words, though she guessed he was right. She probably would've laughed herself if it'd been someone else and they hadn't really gotten hurt.

Her hands had come to rest on his upper arms in the rare show of consideration he was giving her, soothing away the tight hurt in her scalp with delicately stroking fingers, and she wanted to be mad at him for laughing just because she thought it might irritate him - a baiting game would've been nice to stop her thoughts of being smitten with the man - but she just couldn't find it in her. Instead, she enjoyed his attentions, and she tried to remember exactly why it was she'd turned around in the first place. What had she been wanting to ask him? The way he was rubbing her scalp was apparently giving her memory loss.

"Yeah...I guess...," she trailed and closed her eyes, almost completely relaxed. "Uh...when are we um...going?"

Dante knew he'd probably stopped her head from aching, but he didn't feel a need to stop stroking her skin, his fingers at the back of her head on one hand and at the nape of her neck on the other. Somehow, he liked it, enjoyed having her there against him, resting her face against his chest, had almost forgotten how nice it'd been the night they'd slept together just to lay with her afterwards and fall asleep. Granted, Dante didn't consider himself much of a cuddling man unless it was under the right circumstances, but he'd indeed enjoyed himself that night and wouldn't mind doing it again, kind of like he was now.

Yeah, he was smitten. Sighing out his breath over the thought, he decided to just reply to her question and get to the good stuff later. "Right now if you want to."

"Mmm," he heard drawn out from her throat as if she weren't paying much attention, causing him to smirk a bit. Realizing they weren't going anywhere until he stopped distracting her, he let his fingers stop, and then slid his hands down her back, realizing a good moment for a kiss when he saw one.

"Must've made it all better, huh?"

"Hmm?" Regan asked, looking up a bit dazedly, "Oh, yeah," she nodded, only then realizing that they were literally hugging, her arms having slipped around him when she wasn't paying any attention. Like Dante, she also realized a good chance for a kiss when one was presented to her. Both of them leaned in equally without even realizing the other had moved, both of them parting their lips against the others just as equally, but neither of them realized that their thoughts were on the exact same wavelength as the others as well.

The kiss was somewhat desperate, but more so simply carnal. Their tongues roamed and rubbed together, not even realizing that one of the doors was still open, and they could both be seen from the streets where a few kids had gathered.

"Ewww!," one of them called out.

"Dante's got a girlfriend!," another skinnier one called followed by mimicking the gesture of sticking his fingers down his throat and gagging on them.

The kiss between the two faded and they both gave each other a bland look as the Brat Brigade continued to call out playful wisecracks at the two, and Regan shook her head. Nice timing, she sighed inwardly, and watched Dante looking out at the kids.

"Shut up and get out of here before I tell you how you were made this way."

Regan couldn't help snickering, hearing one of the kids responses, "What!? You're crazy!"

"Kissing a girl gave him crazy cooties!"

The insults kept coming and Regan grumbled, "Oh good grief." Then she turned around and yelled out, "Beat it you little punks, and go home before I mail you there in ten different pieces to give your parents something to do for a while!"

The kids got quiet, only staring at the woman who'd just reprimanded them for a moment, then they all turned and ran off as quickly as possible. Dante, in their wake, slightly lifted a brow over the whole scene, supposing an angry woman was more intimidating to a kid than an angry man. After all, no child really wanted to piss off its mother. Glancing down at Regan, he chuckled, "Done this before?"

Snickering, Regan shook her head slowly, saying, "No, but I get the feeling I'd probably make a good mother because of it."

Smirking, Dante grabbed his trench coat from the hanger near the door and casually slung it over his shoulder, letting her leave the shop before he shut the double doors behind them, simply saying, "Could be. You planning on having any?"

"Um," she drew out with a shrug, "sometime, maybe, whenever I'm ready. You?"

"Later," he replied, "much, much later."

The answer made Regan grin. She had the thought that Dante wasn't too much of a children type of guy, though she'd expected him to give her a flat out no instead of a later, no matter how much later his later might've been. "When you do have them, what do you want more, a boy or a girl?"

"Don't really care, as long as its healthy," he said, walking down the roadside from the shop. "And as long as I don't have twins."

Remembering how Dante had mentioned having a twin brother, she grinned , supposing he knew now that he was older that he and his brother had probably driven his mother nuts on several occasions. Regan just shook her head and walked on however, letting the idle conversation go. She wanted to meet this Imp person after all and find out exactly what he had to say about everything.

---

The bells on the door made a jingling sound as it was pushed open. The inside of the small shop smelled like incense, and oddly enough, another type of plant that one would think might be the last thing you'd find in a potential demons hangout, but more commonly found in the basement of a highschool student whose grades may or may not have been suffering. There were a variety of items lining the shelves as well, vials containing god knew what kind of liquids, mythical books on lore and other such types of subjects, and a somewhat tall, lanky man with long stringy white hair stood behind the front counter, one eye completely white, the other a dark brown that didn't even seem to work correctly.

Walking into the shop, Dante heard Regan saying, "Smells like someone's been smoking something other than cigarettes in here."

Dante smirked, agreeing with her assessment. Imp never was one to smoke a cigarette anyway. But when it came to the more illegal side of life in the human world, Imp was all about taking a puff. Dante just shrugged though, knowing he didn't need to explain it to Regan, she'd probably either smoked it herself, or at least known some people who had. Though it did make him curious, because the thought of her smoking pot, well, somehow he just couldn't see it. But that was idle talk for another day. Instead of bringing it up, he let the door shut behind them and walked on inside.

Looking just ahead, Regan thought the man behind the counter was this demon they knew named 'Imp'. He looked a little off anyway. But it was in that moment that she heard Dante call out, "Hey Imp, get your ass out here, I've got a bone to pick."

Maybe she'd been wrong. Regan blinked, about to ask Dante what he meant by that when she heard a reply from the back, "Like hell you do, asshole, you're just here to use me again, and the sad thing is, I just got back in town. Can't you give a guy a decent welcome back first?"

The reply made Dante grin. Regan stared at him with a raised brow, but he didn't spare her a glance in that moment. He looked like he was concentrating on something, and Regan could only wonder what the hell he was doing. It was then that she heard another comment from the same voice in the back.

"That's not funny, dickhead, it's a good thing you brought along a hot chick with you. Otherwise I might've been pissed."

Dante was already laughing before the voice could finish off its litany of insults. Regan was confused as hell. Suddenly, she hauled off and punched Dante in the arm. Still laughing, Dante cringed just slightly and glanced over at the woman standing next to him, asking her, "Gah, what?"

"Would you _please_ tell me what's going on?"

"You're such a jackass, Dante, you didn't even tell her."

The voice had come from somewhere near by this time, causing Regan to gasp loudly because she hadn't seen the beaded curtain behind the counter moving at all to signify someone had walked through them. Looking down, she spotted what had to be _the ugliest_ little man, demon, whatever he was, that she'd ever seen in her entire life. He couldn't have been more than two and a half feet tall, a bit misshapen, and there wasn't really one thing that made him ugly, just that he was, well, ugly. He had a somewhat big nose, yellow eyes, and a good sparse bit of hair on his head that curled out in different directions from one another.

"Sorry," Dante interrupted her thoughts on the way Imp looked, smirking down at the little demon, "no, I didn't tell her. I thought I'd let you. But you probably knew that."

"Knew what?" Regan interjected.

"That he thought that," Imp informed her.

"Thought he didn't tell me about you?"

"No, that I'd let him tell you." Dante spoke up, still grinning.

"Tell me _what_!?" Regan nearly yelled.

"That I'm telepathic!," Imp yelled quickly before Dante could draw this out longer than he should have, which he'd actually already done. "Damn it Sparda, do you _always_ have to make things difficult?"

"It's funny," Dante grinned unabashedly. "Yes though," he looked at Regan finally, "Imp's telepathic, can read minds that are steel traps. He comes in handy."

Imp shook his head and he walked back under the flap of the counter, the man standing behind it lifting the flap for Dante and Regan since they were, of course, much taller. The whole way the little demon was grumbling, leading them to the room beyond the front desk. Lifting the beads covering the door up, Regan looked about to see somewhat of a lounge with a ton of books laying here and there, shelves that were currently a bit empty, and a couch with a coffee table seated in front of it, not to mention a few pictures on the walls, kind of like in Dante's office, of women in bikinis. Before Regan could get her initial impression of the place though, she gasped suddenly, remembering what she'd thought when she'd first saw Imp about how ugly he was.

He was telepathic, he'd know what she'd been thinking.

"Don't worry about it, sweety pie, I get it from everyone," Imp started, having already read her mind apparently. "You should see me _without_ my little illusion here. Honestly, it doesn't bother me at all."

Regan blinked. Dante was right, he _was_ very telepathic. She sighed out a soft breath through parted lips and then told him, "I'm still sorry."

"For what? There's a difference between keeping something to yourself and outright insulting someone."

Imp had climbed up onto a table where a few potted plants - of the fern variety since he apparently had a green thumb if the other plant life in the room was any indication - sat which he watered, and Regan just watched him quietly. "Good point," she smiled a bit, feeling better now. "But um, who's the guy in the front?"

"He's my front guy," Imp said in a no nonsense kind of way. "He's my public face. And before you think it, no, it's not much different from the real one. Us ugly people tend to stick together." Imp grinned and put his water kettle back down, then he pushed himself off of the table and went to go pull a few books off of the couch.

Regan watched the little man working as if he were completely comfortable in such a tall world with his lack of height, moving the books off of the couch until there was a neat pile of them on the coffee table before it. Once he had them there, he climbed back up onto the table, standing on it again, and said, "Come on, sit down, sorry about the mess, I was in the middle of rearranging shit from moving back in and bringing some new stuff along."

Tidy guy, Regan supposed, much unlike Dante, giving him a pointed look and a lifted brow. Dante wondered what the look was for, but he heard Imp chuckling and decided maybe she thought he was messy.

"I might be messy, but I _do_ clean up from time to time unlike a lot of men," he said in his defense, heading over to the couch with Regan, having pulled her further into the room by taking her hand. Imp was still standing on the coffee table, shuffling through some of the books there, and Regan sat next to Dante on the couch. Glancing at Imp, she tried to get started off on the right foot by introducing herself.

"Well, anyway," she began, "my name's Regan Davison, and you're Imp?"

"Actually, my real name isn't pronounceable by the human tongue, but Imp seemed fitting."

Regan grinned, then asked, "Why are you here? In the human world?"

Once Imp had a nice stack of books sitting on the coffee table, he turned and sat down on them, eye level with the two people he was talking to. "Because they're a bunch of jackasses in the demon world. 'Hey Imp'," he started mocking the demons he was talking about, "'tell me what so and so is thinking or I'll treat you like a game ball!' It was a lot worse than that, but I came here hoping for a change. _Much_ better than the demon world."

Regan nodded, thinking it made sense that he'd want to escape such a thing being apparently a fairly weak demon physically but very strong mentally, so nothing stopped others from mistreating him where they were more powerful in a physical sense. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Imp told her with a little smirk, glancing at Dante for a moment with something he'd just picked up from the man. "You're really hooked on this one, aren'tcha, Dante?"

Somehow, he'd gotten the feeling Imp might've brought that up, and while it made him a bit annoyed, Dante shrugged his shoulders a slight bit, pulling the indifference card he was so well known for. After all, there was no sense in reacting as if he'd been irritated, giving away just how true Imp's statement was beyond a doubt. "I might be. We're seeing how it goes."

Imp snorted, glancing at Regan for a moment and then back at Dante. The sound made Dante lift a brow and then look at Regan. "You not telling me something?"

It was Regan's turn to lift a brow. "What are you talking about?," she asked, glancing over at him, "since when have I had a problem with keeping things from you?"

"Since I met you."

"That's a damned lie."

"Um, excuse me?" Imp started up. "Wanna just keep this one quiet until you get outside? I'm not a marriage counselor, as much as I know how much Dante hates the 'M' word."

"Shut up Imp, just tell us what we came to find out."

Imp rolled his yellow eyes upward, "Did I say the human world was better?" He asked pointedly, looking from Regan to Dante, "Because sometimes it's the _same_."

Dante rolled his eyes, then started tapping his foot against the table's edge where it rested. The movement was telling to his patience, and Regan shook her head over it. "Dante, just relax. Imp," she started, "do you know anything about a demon named Democrities or his plans? Or a place called Sapa Hanhepi Wi?"

Imp looked at Dante and then pointed at Regan. "See!? _That's_ how you ask someone something!" Pushing himself down from his books, he moved over to the edge of the table and picked up a glass of water he had, sipping it as he leaned against the book stack casually. "Democrities, huh? Can't say I know too much aside the fact that he hates Sparda."

"Every demon hates Sparda," Dante interjected.

"Don't start a sob story about how you always have to put up with it because you're his son."

"Imp, I'm gonna start a sob story about a two foot tall demon I killed that I didn't need to if you don't start telling me a little more."

"Dante," Regan interjected, shaking her head. Looking back over to Imp, she asked, "What about the name Sapa Hanhepi Wi?"

"That's the Black Moon Temple, why?" Imp asked as if it were common knowledge, but he suddenly found a very interested Regan leaning toward him. It startled him so much he nearly dropped his cup and fell onto his back.

"You know where it is?" She asked him somewhat urgently.

"Damn!," Imp exclaimed as he straightened his clothing out again, "hold the fires, I'm not used to pretty women gettin' all close to me and shit." Imp suddenly glanced from side to side and then grinned, licking his palms and trying to fruitlessly smooth his wild hair back, "unless you wanna give me a kiss?"

He was just about to pucker up when a gloved hand was placed over his mouth and he was lifted into the air. Holding him by the back of his shirt, Dante stared at him evenly, standing behind the coffee table now, telling him, "She doesn't want a kiss, Imp, she wants information. Try not to get your panties in a wad, wouldya?"

Imp scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. "Can you _really_ blame a guy for tryin'?"

"Why do you think I haven't just shot you yet?" Dante asked. "I mean you _know_ how I feel."

"Yeah, yeah,"Imp grumbled, letting Dante set him back down onto the table. "Alright, let me get serious for a second," he went on, putting his cup down. Turning to Regan, he asked her, "I can tell there's a sacrifice ready for the Gateway Ritual, and you're the Gateway, right?"

Regan nodded her head. Once she had, Imp looked back at Dante, "Well, they'll wanna do it at the place she mentioned. I think I might have a map to that location. I'll have to look for it though."

Dante nodded, glad to finally be making some progress, "Alright, that's fair enough. What about his plans? Know anything?"

"Not really. But I'll keep my eye, or better yet, my brain out for anyone who might. Come to think of it," Imp climbed back onto the stack of books, sitting down again, leaning on his elbow, looking much like a miniature sculpture of 'The Thinker', and he glanced back up at Dante after a short moment of the activity, "Doesn't Democrities have some kind of illusionist for a son? Ariel or some shit?"

"Arias?" Regan asked him.

"Yes!," Imp snapped his fingers, then shuddered visibly, "I _hate_ that guy. What a drama demon."

"That's Arias alright," Dante replied, "he's around too."

"Must still be under daddy's lock and key," Imp chuckled, standing up, having noticed Dante's thoughts toward leaving fairly soon, so he'd gone back to rearranging his books. That's when he realized Dante hadn't moved there, and he looked back over at him. "Let me guess, curious on knowing more about him too, huh?"

"Guess?" Dante asked.

"Whatever. Alright," instead of organizing, he sat back down again, "This is what I know. Despite the fact that I can read a mind inside Fort Knox, this guy, well, it's not that I can't read his mind, but he knows how to trip me up. He's a master at his craft, both physically to the eye, _and_ mentally, to the telepath. He has a good method of confusing his own thoughts, hiding them under a mesh of other things brimming in his soul, and as for his motivations, all I know is that he was sent to the human world a _long_ time before I got here, and something happened not long after he was to make him _completely_ resent and hate his father to the point of wanting to overthrow him, even kill him. Not that he didn't hate the guy to begin with though. But word likes to travel around, and I don't know what it was that happened back then, but where other demons can usually never overthrow a powerful lord, Arias is coming closer to being able to do so."

"How do you know all of that?" Regan asked him seriously.

Looking over at her, just as serious, Imp explained to her, "By reading your and Dante's recent memories of him just now and putting them together with what I've heard." Imp shook his head slowly, "I don't think he's the one you guys need to worry about. If you kill him, you'll probably do his daddy a favor, and of the two, I'd say Arias is the least of a threat to you two right now."

That was _definitely_ news to Dante, something he hadn't considered yet. But it wasn't so surprising, considering Arias's own words. We're enemies with a common foe. Whatever lay at the ultimate goal of the demon Arias wasn't important. His most pressing goal they knew, which was to take his father down from their recent interactions with him, was the same as theirs. But whatever lay beyond that, whatever Arias wanted to do after his daddy was gone more than likely wouldn't, at least initially, affect Dante or Regan, so he kept it in mind.

"Thanks Imp," Dante replied and then nodded his head at Regan, telling her in silent gesture they were about to leave. "I'll be back by again whenever I'm stumped with something else."

"Next five minutes, huh?"

"You're just hilarious. Do me a favor and run across the room to _really_ make me laugh," Dante replied, chuckling already at the thought of Imp running, which really _was_ a hilarious sight to see. He pushed the beaded curtain over the door back for Regan who gave Imp a shrug and a slight wave of her fingers before she stepped through them, and Dante added, "Come by the shop whenever you find the information about that temple later. I'll have something to exchange for it."

"Ass," Imp muttered, "alright, I'll be by later."


	20. Interruption

_Interruption_

It was fairly quiet after Dante and Regan left Imp's. In fact, the short little demon was fairly happy with the quiet about which had left him with only the thoughts from his front man, named Willie, being spoken in his mind. The long haired, tall man continued to stand behind the front counter, verbally quiet, thinking to himself, knowing that Imp could hear him easily, and every once and again, Imp would make a spoken comment to a particular thought that the old human had, speaking to the mute easily in such a way. Perhaps, to strangers, the stringy haired old man and short midget duo seemed highly strange, but the two had known each other for all of Willie's life, and neither of them cared what the outside world might've thought of their odd friendship.

Organizing his books as he stood on a ladder in the back of his shop, Imp heard Willie's thoughts becoming that of _what a strange looking man_.

The unspoken thought caused Imp to narrow his brows, placing a book he'd been holding gently down onto the shelf and he turned to face the curtain. That was strange. Aside from Willie, Imp could hear no other voices in his head, and he reached up a tiny hand and scratched his scalp quietly, just listening.

Surely enough, Willie continued thinking, wondering if Imp was going to come out and greet the new customer as he usually did whenever he sensed a new persons thoughts, but Willie didn't know that Imp hadn't heard anything. Climbing down from the ladder he was perched upon, Imp started heading to the front desk, calling out, "Willie, pull out my stool alright?"

Willie turned from his usual statuesque form behind the counter and bent down to pull a stool over from the wall, one which, once Imp had entered the shop area of his home, he climbed upon and sat down on. Settling himself, he finally looked over to see the patron that entered whose mind was apparently unreadable, and as soon as Imp saw the robed and hooded figure just standing there, he blinked a few times, gaining the deepest sense of dread he'd had in a while.

"Hello, sir," Imp started speaking regardless of any bad feelings he'd had about the new customer. "Can we help you with anything?"

The man's face was hooded and fairly well concealed from where Imp and Willie were currently located, and Imp could only agree with Willie's thought assessment that this was the strangest guy they'd seen in a long damned time.

"Yes, you may," the man spoke, his voice soft and even somewhat frail. He started walking toward the counter once he'd spoken, stopping just on the other side of Imp, looking down at the short demon sitting on the stool behind the counter. Looking up at his face finally, Imp could see that whomever this person was, he was definitely an ugly S.O.B., almost looked like death itself, but he, of course, held his tongue over the insulting thoughts.

"Then," Imp started in reply, "what is it you'd like help with?"

"I want to know," he started, just as softly spoken as he had been before, "what you have regarding information on The Gateway Ritual."

---

Three hours. Dante was surprised at himself.

Then again, maybe it was because Regan was a fast learner, but he actually spent three hours straight showing her different things. They found their training grounds on the roof of his shop, and Regan no longer held Demoncaller like a baseball bat. Instead, she was actually mimicking his instructions with some relative ease now, but she'd actually cut herself a couple of times in the process, and every time she had, she'd watch the wound closing itself back up and mutter something about never being able to get used to it.

It was late evening now after leaving Imp's shop earlier, and Dante, having just swung his sword about in one hand, turned Rebellion and placed it onto his back, trying to help Regan with a move, telling her, "Hold on," before he grabbed her hand and showed her how to perform the move properly. "Like that."

Regan got her fingers straightened out, and then spun the sword around with his instruction, nodding slowly, doing it again and again for a little bit of practice. "This is actually fun. I thought it'd be a pain in the ass."

"Wait until you get to kill a couple of demons. That's where the real fun is."

Regan smirked, then drew her blade to a stop and let it fall, bouncing the pommel of the hilt off of her knee, and caught the sword as it bounced back up into the air with her opposite hand before trying the technique again with that one. Dante snorted over it, liking her improvisation, and he turned around in order to get a little more space between them again. Once he had, he heard Regan saying, "Stop for a second."

He turned around, looking back at her, "What?"

Regan was heading toward him and she walked around behind him, making him narrow his brows in amusement. What the hell was she up to? Regan stopped behind his back, asking after a moment, "Okay, how the hell do you do that?"

Dante turned around to face her once again, "Do what?"

"That," she pointed at the hilt of Rebellion sticking up over his shoulder, "you don't have _any_ kinds of harnesses holding it there. It's just sitting there on your back like it's charged by anti-gravity or something."

So that's what this was all about. It made Dante grin in amusement, "It's a Devil Arm, babe."

"Sooo," she drew out the word in question, letting him know the explanation didn't really explain anything to her.

"So," he took her hand holding onto Demoncaller and made her place it onto her own back, then pulled her hand away from it, "it'll stick with its master."

Demoncaller continued to stay mounted her back as if she'd sheathed it and Regan blinked a couple of times, her brows narrowing. She then gave Dante a bland look and sighed, "I feel like a fucking magnet."

The comment made him chuckle. "Well, it comes in handy anyway. At least I don't have to wear a strap across my chest and look like Conan the Barbarian."

"True," she smirked, "so, do you have anymore of them?"

"Devil Arms?"

Regan nodded. When she did, Dante also nodded his head in reply, telling her, "Yeah, I picked up a few a while back. Why, you wanna see 'em?"

"Sure," Regan smirked, "show me the sights." With that, she let him lead her down into the building again. From there, he went into the back of his shop and down the hallway, opening a door. Inside of the room were a few different weapons sitting here and there along with what Regan guessed was just stuff he'd stored away from a lack of space to put it elsewhere, and Regan looked at the weapons, somewhat confused over one of them that sat close to the closet door.

"Dante?"

"Yeah?"

"You have a guitar in here."

Dante sighed, "Yeah, that's Nevan, you don't really wanna mess with her." He pulled Regan away from the instrument, and Regan gave him an odd, questioning look. But the last thing Dante wanted was for Nevan to pop up like she did from time to time at random in order to ask Regan a bunch of questions which Dante really didn't feel like putting up with right then. After all, Nevan was a succubus, so Dante knew it wouldn't be the best idea.

"Why not?" Regan asked him, curious over his movements.

"I'll tell ya later," Dante replied just before he heard the last thing he ever wanted to.

"Look brother, master has brought a friend!"

"Yes, he has, brother, he's never done this before. We should be receptive of her!"

"I agree, brother."

Not them. "Hey!," Dante turned around to face the two swords mounted on the wall which had just spoken, orange and blue in color, both with heads carved into the tips of the hilts, his brows narrowing, "what was the deal?"

The two swords remained quiet when he asked them that. With a sigh, he turned and saw Regan staring at the weapons in complete confusion, and she pointed, "Are...they..._supposed_ to do that?

"No," Dante said, looking at them pointedly. "I told them I'd only use them if they kept their mouths shut. Once they get started talking, they _never_ stop," he muttered.

Regan looked up from the swords and at him, "Do they chat in here all the time by themselves then?"

"They tried to. I threatened to throw them out when I kept hearing them through the walls."

"Uh huh," Regan replied pointedly, still a bit disbelieving, "and _what_ are they...exactly?"

"Swords," he looked at her, "can't you tell?"

"Dante, they're _talking_ swords. Forgive me if I'm a little surprised, but I think anyone would be."

"Yeah, well, hang around 'em long enough, you won't be so amazed anymore."

"Well, if they're too chatty," Regan started, "then I think I can see why you'd say that." She looked over at the swords and asked, "Do they have names?"

"Why don't you ask them," Dante smirked, "I'll be in the office," he turned and went to the door, deciding to allow Regan to find out first hand for herself just how annoying Agni and Rudra could be, though he stopped short of leaving and looked back, "but once your done talking to her," he told the swords, "and she tells you to shut your mouths, I don't wanna hear anything else coming out of this room like before, got it?"

"Yes master!," they both said without pause. With a slight nod, Dante left, and he heard them telling her their names. He snorted, wondering how long Regan would actually stay in there with the weapons before she came into the office pulling her hair out. Heading to his desk, he just sat back in his chair and timed it.

"So," Regan started after Dante left, "why did he ask you two not to talk?"

"We had been waiting a long time for someone who could wield us," Agni started.

"Someone who was stronger than us," Rudra went on.

"But master told us he would only take us on the condition that we didn't speak. Master can be irritable sometimes."

"Yes. Wait, brother, what is irritable?"

"Well, irritable is when someone becomes tired of things and it makes them angry."

They started going on about what the words meant and Regan just listened with a slightly blank look on her face. Finally, after the two swords ended up discussing what was tired and what wasn't, she held up her hands, "Hold on, you're ignoring me now. Maybe he asked you to shut up because you're paying more attention to each other than to the one who's trying to talk to you."

The two swords were silent for once. Regan looked back and forth between them, waiting to see what they'd say, and finally, Rudra said, "Perhaps you are right."

"What kind of conversation should we have with master?"

Regan just grinned, seeing why Dante would become so frustrated with the two Devil Arms, replying, "Just don't ignore the person talking to you and stay on the subject, ask questions and answer their questions in return. But you'll have to get permission from Dante first. Ask him nicely, maybe he'll let you try."

"Thank you, we will ask master," they started as Regan went to the door, nodding before she shut it behind herself as they went on, and as soon as the door shut, it got completely quiet. Regan couldn't help but snicker over it in amusement, though she had to admit, she'd just had a conversation with two talking swords. She never thought that would happen whenever she'd gotten up in the morning.

Heading back down the hallway, she found Dante sitting behind his desk with his legs up on the surface of it, reading one of his magazines.

"You stayed in there longer than I thought you would," he told her, looking up from the pages.

"Well, I wanted to see how long someone could go on about what the difference between being irritated and being impatient was."

"Sounds typical. Always something lame with those two," he replied, turning the page, hearing the front doors of his shop opening up. Regan and Dante both looked at the door, seeing a man walking into the shop that they'd never seen before, an older man with a balding head and some scruff on his face. Regan watched him walking to the middle of the room as she headed to the side of the desk herself, hearing him asking once he came to a stop, "Are you Dante?"

Dante looked back at his magazine, turning the page again, replying, "I might be. Who are you?"

The man gave Dante a respectful smile and headed over to his desk. He pulled out an envelope with a rubber band wrapped around it from his pocket and set it onto the surface before Dante, saying, "You helped my niece out a few days ago, and my brother wanted to repay you for it. He said you wouldn't take the money."

Regan watched in interest, getting the feeling this was about the same case that Enzo had tried to give Dante the other night that he wouldn't take. Dante sighed in a breath and shut his magazine, setting it down on the desk before he finally replied, "I told him to keep the money because he needed it. There's not a lot of Devil Ops who'd let someone do that, so he shouldn't have sent anyone out here."

"I know," the man held up his hand, "which is why I insisted on this. It isn't coming from him, it's coming from me. It's not as much as he had to offer, but it's something to compensate for your time. I'm just as grateful as he is. When I found out what had happened, I decided to come and pay you a visit for myself."

Dante knew not to insult good will, after all, apparently the guy just wanted to be fair, and there was really nothing wrong with that. So he just nodded and told the man, "Alright, fair's fair. That all?"

"That's all," came his reply, "thank you." Then he turned around and started leaving the shop, as simple as that. Dante watched him going, then he reached out and grabbed the thick envelope, pulling it open as the front doors shut. Regan watched him, smirking over the scene, she couldn't help herself. Dante knew what she was thinking as she headed up to the side of his chair as well, leaning on the back of it a bit as he counted the money.

"I thought you said you went out drinking," she spoke close to the side of his ear, smirking the whole time.

Dante continued straightening out the money, licking his thumb before he continued counting. "I did."

"Uh huh, and I also thought you'd said you didn't want to take the job because you'd spend the money before you could pay Lady back anything you owed her."

"I'll probably spend this too."

Regan just grinned. She knew what the truth was. He didn't take the job because he knew he wouldn't accept the money from someone in such dire straights. Maybe it was a combination of that and not paying Lady back though, but she realized in that moment that even if it was, it still showed he was considerate of other people, no matter how much of a jackass he pretended to be. Well, how much of a jackass he _could_ be, she corrected herself. Deciding not to push the subject with him however, she just asked him, "So, how much is there?"

"Fifteen hundred in all," he replied, "enough to kill a debt or two and get something to eat for tonight."

Dante put the money back into the envelope and stood, about to go put it somewhere safe for the time being when he found Regan leaning in and kissing him herself, being the spontaneous one for once. The kiss was sweet and slow, felt completely wonderful, especially when she rolled her tongue along his lips and then into his mouth. Dante definitely couldn't say he minded that at all.

He returned it and reached his hands out to her sides, pulled her toward himself in the want to have her closer, so that her body was pressed against his fully. He felt her lean into him willingly, snaking her arms around his neck as their lips slanted together again and again. The tongue thrusting kiss ended after several long moments, leaving them taking several deep breaths, both of them aroused now.

"What was that for?" Dante asked after a moment, his voice soft and somewhat coy.

"Well, I just realized something."

"What's that?"

Regan smirked, turning her head up and looking his face over, and she realized more than she told him, but she only said, "That you're actually a nice guy."

Dante gave her a cocky smirk as he blew his breath through his nose in a snort, "Yeah, well, don't tell anyone. It'd ruin me."

Regan, still smiling, drew her fingers across her lips in a motion that said she was zipping them shut, and she reached up and pushed some of his hair from his eyes, "Don't worry, I think I know the reason for it."

"For what?"

"For not telling anyone. They'd take advantage of you. Besides, I also know you're not a _completely_ nice guy. You can be a real jackass from time to time."

The comment had him grinning, asking her, "Oh yeah?"

"Yep. You know what else I think, Dante?"

"What's that?"

"I think you probably get treated like shit more often than you should when you don't deserve it."

"That could be a possibility," he allowed. "And you know what _I_ think?"

Regan shook her head no silently at him, waiting to see what he'd say. She'd come to realize that the things he said, while sometimes completely insane or off base, was always at least interesting. She got the feeling whatever he had to say now as well would be something along those lines too. And she was right.

"I think you wanna get in my pants now."

So, he'd chosen the up front, somewhat crass route this time. "That could be a possibility too." Regan grinned after she replied, looking down for a moment though since her cheeks had heated up a bit. It still embarrassed her a bit to talk with him like this, but she wasn't going to lie to him. She did want to be with him again, and while she knew the scene that had just taken place made her feel as if he deserved a kiss if not more than that, she also just wanted him to herself in that moment for the sheer sake of being with him.

But there was still the not yet tackled issue of their feelings for one another. Or her feelings for him anyway. Regan wanted to tell him, but at the same time, she was scared to, sensing the type of man that he was and that she wasn't sure he'd like a woman hanging off of him all of the time, even if he had a caring in him for that woman himself. So she decided to bring it up in a roundabout way.

"You know, I figured all of this out before, otherwise, well," she trailed off, not finishing her sentence. A tension had formed in the air around them that they both could feel as if they could see it, and Regan pursed her lips to the side in thought.

Since she wasn't talking though, Dante pushed her a little bit, "Otherwise what, babe?"

She looked back up at him, had apparently trailed off into her own little world and his words had brought her back out of it. "Sorry," she told him, "just, well, I wouldn't feel this way."

"About me?"

Regan nodded her head. She loved him, and that's all there was to it. If she got anymore simple than that, it'd be tattooed on her forehead. "I'll be honest, I didn't want for it to happen. But it's not really something I could help."

"No big deal," Dante told her, "it's not like anyone can ever help how they feel. You act like it's gonna ruin something."

"Well, I was afraid it might not be something you would care to hear. I mean, it might cramp your flashy, womanizer style." She grinned at him after saying that, relieved that he wasn't taking it so badly.

"Doubt that," he smirked at her. "You still haven't said it."

"Said what?"

"You know what."

Regan blinked. Was he _that_ egotistical? For all he knew, she could have just meant she liked him immensely. So he was either being egotistical, or she was just as clear as water. With a shake of her head, she asked him, "Why? So you can have something else to hang over me whenever it suits you?" She was smirking at him as if she knew what he was up to. "Or are you just wanting a stroke to your ego."

Dante shrugged his broad shoulders playfully, leaning down suddenly however and tossing her over his shoulder in an instance. Hearing her gasp, he grinned as he began walking toward his steps, and he said to her simply, "You know what I want a stroke to, cutie. But you're gonna say it no matter why I wanna hear it. But I suppose you could say it's a little of both. Though, it might be nice to just hear the truth for once."

"And just where are you hauling me off to?"

"The bedroom. Best place to make you say it over and over again."

Regan sighed. She could feel his hand resting just beneath her ass and wondered if he'd done that on purpose. But she did ask him, "Can't you just carry me upright? I feel like an invalid."

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't come up with some other reason like last night to wait."

"Yeah you _would_ say something like that, wouldn't you? But guess what? I'm in the perfect position to spank you, Mr. Sparda."

"Spank away, dollface," he chuckled, halfway up the steps now.

"Uh, Dante?"

Lady's voice came from the office down below and she stared at the two of them who'd just stopped and turned their heads to look back down at her. Dante heard Regan groan and felt her waving a bit as she dropped her head down completely. Apparently she was heavily embarrassed. Grinning over it, though he wasn't too fond of the interruption, Dante turned and sat her down onto her feet, causing her to stumble a little because of the blood rushing back out of her head, smacking his shoulder playfully once she'd gotten a good shot at it.

"Have I saved the day somehow?" Lady asked them both, or more specifically Regan, a little amused by it.

"What'd you want, Lady?" Dante asked her, a little annoyed.

"Well, if you can keep your pants on for five more minutes, I just wanted to ask if you'd seen Imp around. I went to find him and ask him some questions, but he's not at the shop. And the place looked pretty banged up."

"Hell if I know," Dante replied, though he did wonder why Imp's shop might've been wrecked, "I'm not his guardian. He's probably off talking to some of his suppliers."

"Oh," Lady nodded, "suppliers. Yeah, that's a nice way of putting it," she rolled her eyes, "and at the same time a wonderful way to slow things down. I wonder if he knows what happened."

Dante shrugged, "Sorry, no clue. Pretty sure you could track him down easily though."

"Yeah, how many people look like _that_ could be hanging around this town," Lady sighed, turning with a wave of her hand and adding, "have fun, love birds," before she smirked and walked to the door.

"Love birds?" Both Dante and Regan had said the words together. When Dante heard Regan saying it, he looked over at her and shook his head no, "You don't have a right to say that. Not considering how you feel."

He was heading toward her now and she was backing up the stairs, holding up her finger, "Hold on now, I know you care about me at least a little, jackass, so you don't have the right yourself."

"Yeah, you're right," Dante grinned, putting his arms up around her as he pushed the door to his room open, backing her up into it. Her telling blush was coming back onto her face as they neared his bed and he gave her that look he usually got when he was being, well, playfully naughty. Damned if he didn't love that color. It was rather flattering, especially with her blood red hair color. Smirking over it, he added, "I do care about you. You're hot, feisty, and a real pain in the ass sometimes."

"Then we're not all that different," she pointed out, "so don't even pretend. Or was it just for Lady's sakes?" She felt the edge of the bed behind her knees, tried to hold them steady, but they bucked anyway, and Dante caught her before she could fall back onto the mattress.

"Maybe," he grinned, "then again, maybe I just like picking fights."

How true to his nature, Regan thought with a short sigh. "Somehow, I get the feeling that deep down, you like a lot of rough, angry sex, don't you?"

"Nah," Dante replied, pushing his knee onto the bed and her with it, settling his leg between hers as he laid her back and loomed over her. "That shit's only good for one night stands. If I wanted that, I know how to push your buttons to get it."

Regan didn't want him to prove that to her, knowing he'd more than likely do so with fine style, and actually legitimately piss her off. She was in half a daze now anyway, feeling the draw to him as she laid there, beneath him, leaning up to kiss him, saying just beforehand, "Maybe later," and her lips pressed to his.

Dante just smirked, understanding something like that was best saved for a time when she wasn't expecting it, and vice versa. Somehow he could see Regan being the type to piss him off on purpose as well just to get some rough sex out of it. The thought actually turned him on somehow, the image in his head of maybe pushing her over onto her stomach while pounding away at her from behind stuck in his mind, and it made him kiss her just a bit more roughly for it. In turn he could feel her fingers tensing into the fabric of his shirt, responding to him with a little whimper as his tongue demandingly swept into her mouth.

"Dante," she muttered out, lifting her shoulder as he pulled the sleeve of her shirt down her arm. All she got was a growled reply that was playfully humorous sounding. It made her snicker a bit despite her dazed state of mind in that moment. Dante had grinned a bit as he lifted his head from hers, reaching for the hem of her shirt to pull it off completely, when he heard a voice coming from downstairs.

"Hey Dante, get your ass out here, I've got a bone to pick with ya."

Imp. The words had definitely been spoken in a smartassed manner, revenge for the way Dante had called him out earlier, and Dante knew for a fact the little demon probably knew what was going on in Dante's room, and also that Regan would definitely want to get his information before things carried on any further.

Regan could see what Dante was considering just from the look on his face, and she couldn't help her smirk, thinking to herself that Dante was probably going to use the little guy for a football because of the interruption. "Let's just go see what he has to say and we can come right back."

"Not with Imp around, he'll try to drag a conversation on for as long as possible. Probably thinks I had something to do with his shop getting busted."

Despite his words and the fact that he absolutely did not want to, Dante had lifted himself off of Regan and allowed her to get up. She just shook her head as she stood and turned around to take his hand, deciding to give him a slight bit of encouragement since he'd been right unknowingly to her and she really wanted to find out what the little demon had to say.

"Come on, you know you won't stick around for him to talk to you that long. Besides, I _do_ need to know what he has to say. And I doubt he'll wanna stick around much with his shop being vandalized."

"Yeah, I'd already thought that," he muttered in reply, letting her pull him up and along with him. Snickering as she had to tug him out of the room, Regan turned and went down the stairs, seeing the miniature demon standing on Dante's desk below, just waiting for them to show up. Lady was also standing there next to him. Maybe she'd run into him on the way out of the shop.

"I guess you found him," Dante muttered as he walked down the steps and into the office. "Did you have to bring him back here though?"

"He was already heading inside," Lady replied, "I thought what he had to say warranted an interruption."

"It better."

"Shut up, Dante," Imp grumbled, "sit your ass down and take five."

"I was about to take five somewhere else since you're so insistent." Dante reminded him, not in the least offended by Imp's currently snappy behavior, understanding that he was probably pissed off about whatever had happened to his shop.

"Yeah, so I gathered sadly, and yes I am pretty pissed," Imp replied both to the spoken comment and the unspoken one, then he smiled at Regan. "Sorry, didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Nah," Regan shrugged, "it's a little weird, but I'm not embarrassed. So," she waved her hand, "what's going on?"

Imp didn't seem too content to talk about his busted up shop at first, and started by telling them the information they'd asked him for earlier. "Well, to start off," Imp began, "I found out that the Black Moon Temple is located up north somewhere near a place called Black Wing, about thirty miles west of it in the forests that used to belong to a tribe of Indians a long time ago. Very long time ago, in fact," Imp looked at Dante, "your dad's name came up when I read about it."

"That's not a surprise. I already knew Sparda was involved though," Dante told Imp with a slight shrug.

"Yeah, Sparda killed Democrities' master, some demon named Cruor, and then sealed Democrities inside of hell," Imp nodded. "Well, what I read was that Democrities had presented himself as a god to the tribe of Indians that built the temple for him. In fact, he ruled over them long enough that when your dad sealed him off, they took it offensively and refused to believe that Sparda had done them any good. So Sparda had to destroy the temple itself, afraid they might try to resurrect Democrities."

Dante snorted, having run into the same problem with people before, people believing in some cases that what he'd done wasn't because it was for the greater good, but instead for his own interests. Humans were funny like that, he considered. Sometimes he felt like he couldn't relate to them, on a rare few occasions, but most times it seemed to revolve around instances when he was being blamed for something going wrong which he'd actually fixed.

But Dante didn't consider it for very long. He was, after all, still anxious to get back to what he'd been doing before with Regan, watching as Imp rolled his eyes a bit when he'd had the thought. The motion made Dante grin a bit, and he decided if he really wanted to speed this up, he'd just keep thinking about it.

"Dante, please shut you brain the hell up. I know it's not hard for you to do," Imp grumbled.

"Hard for me to do what?"

"Stop thinking," came the insulting reply.

"Is it getting to you?"

"Dante," Regan grumbled, shaking her head, "just let Imp finish wouldya?" Turning her green eyed gaze down at the short demon, she asked him, "Is that all, Imp?"

"Hell no," Imp shook his head. "This is the most important part. There was a really fucking creepy guy who came to see me today. He definitely wasn't a normal customer."

Regan, listening to everything, shook her head, "How so? What was he thinking?"

"That's just it, he wasn't thinking anything," Imp looked at her, "as if he wasn't even there. On top of that, he looked like he was dead almost. Wearing this big cloak and hood that covered his face, but being short has its advantages. I could see how pale he was. And people think _I'm_ ugly." Imp shivered after mentioning it as if the guy he'd seen took the cake completely.

"What's this got to do with anything?," Dante asked the little demon, "Was he the guy that wrecked your shit?"

"Yeah, that's him. He asked me specifically about the Gateway Ritual too. I told him I didn't know a damned thing about it, and he proceeded to wreck my shop until he found anything he could to help himself either prove me wrong or to find what he was looking for. You have no idea how pissed off I am about it. My shop's a complete mess and I _just_ got it set back up!"

Dante could definitely tell why and how that'd be such a pain in the ass. He'd be pissed himself over the same instance, and could remember a time or two when he'd had to do repairs on his own shop due to, well, less than friendly customers so to speak. Lady interrupted Dante's thoughts over it with a comment however.

"I told Imp I'd keep an eye out for the guy. He shouldn't be too hard to spot. If I find him, do you want me to come and tell you guys first?"

Dante considered that for a moment. There was no telling how powerful this, well, thing was, apparently not human if Imp couldn't read his mind. But Imp could read most demons minds, so it really wasn't easy to second guess. Finally, Dante told Lady, "Yeah, do that. But I wonder if he was looking for Regan, or just for general information."

"Definitely information, otherwise he would've come after me and not my shop, besides, anything he found that even mentioned the ritual, he destroyed. I think he was trying to keep you from figuring something out, he might know you're around."

"Well, I'm not in the dark anymore about him either."

"Nope, and this was the only thing I managed to save, thankfully," Imp pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket that had been folded up and handed it to Dante. Unfolding it, Dante looked it over and realized it was a map with the location of the temple on it, old as hell, and almost felt like it could've been falling apart.

Regan was looking at it as well, pointing the river out, one which she knew all too well, and she informed Dante, "That's close to the valley."

Imp walked over to the edge of Dante's desk and hopped down as the two looked it over. "It's good you know the place, Regan, all I saw on it were the words Sapa Hanhepi Wi and knew that had to be it. Anyway, I'm gonna go back to my shop now, I've got a lot of shit to clean up. So you don't have to worry about me keeping you away from what you really wanna do, Dante."

Regan smirked over Imp's comment, thinking to herself that Dante could probably hear the song 'Hallelujah' playing in his head right now, then heard Imp chuckling and calling back to her, "Believe me, he does. Bye Regan, I hope this mess gets settled soon before my shop comes under fire again!"

"Bye Imp, I'm sorry about that!"

"Not your fault, honey," Imp chuckled, "not at all. See ya around!"

As the doors opened and shut, Willie standing outside waiting, apparently having brought Imp along, Lady looked back at the two seated behind the desk, specifically Dante, and she shook her head. Dante knew that look, listening as she commented, "Apparently trouble's following you again."

"Everywhere I go. I think it lives here actually," Dante replied as he stood up from his chair.

Snorting in amusement, Lady looked over at Regan, realizing the woman seemed to have a deeply thoughtful expression on her face as she stared down at the old map, as if she might've had too much to deal with in that moment. Dante seemed to notice it as well, and he asked Lady, "Did you have any thoughts in mind about it?"

"Just that we should go let Marvin know as soon as possible. Though I'm pretty sure he'd already be suspicious of a character like Imp described."

Regan chuckled despite her grave expression, nodding in agreement. "Probably. Still, he should know I think." She looked at Dante, "Don't mind if I leave for a short while to let him know, do ya?"

"Nah," Dante told her, looking over at Lady, "Why don't you take her over there since you're heading that way anyway."

Regan smiled, and Lady just gave Dante a thumbs up as she turned to walk to the door. "No problem. You ready, Regan?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there," Regan replied as Lady walked out into the evening. Once she had, Regan stepped over to Dante. She was somewhat curious as to why he was agreeing to let her go so easily, though she knew he wasn't that much of a jackass that he'd demand she stay, no matter what they'd been up to, in an important situation like this. So she told him. "I'll be back soon. You must have something in mind since you're so relenting."

"Well, I figured once you got that out of the way, I'd have ya to myself all evening long without interruption."

"Okay," Regan chuckled, "makes sense, though it might be a good idea to head back to the hotel once we're done here. You know, just incase." She winked at him, then leaned up and placed a quick kiss to his lips. Turning to head toward the door so she could run her new errand, she heard Dante calling her name as she got there.

"Regan." He waited until she looked back, and once she did, he motioned his head toward the chair sitting near the couch where Demoncaller rested. "Forgetting something? Just incase?"

Realizing she'd forgotten to grab the weapon, probably due to the fact that the sword somehow felt like the bane of her existence considering how she'd gotten it and what it stood for, Regan shook her head at her own forgetfulness. Standing back from the door, she turned, going to get the sword. She knew she'd probably need it at all times now no matter how she felt about the weapon, especially with news of this new person roaming about looking for information on the Gateway Ritual, among whatever other objectives he might have. So despite how she felt toward the sword, she didn't really want to leave it behind.

Taking the sword, she glanced over at Dante and asked, "Have you got anything I can hide it in?"

Dante thought for a moment, then he shrugged, "Not that I can think of. It'd be a pain for you to carry my guitar case around on Lady's motorcycle. You just need a long trench coat. Swords that slender wouldn't be hard to hide in one."

"True. But that's alright," Regan smiled, heading back to the door again with the sword in hand. "I don't think it'd be too strange to carry it around with me this one time. It's a gift for someone who collects them if I get any strange looks."

Dante snorted in amusement somewhat silently as she got to the door, and once she was there, opening it, she added, "Don't miss me too much."

"I won't," he smirked suavely, watching her shake her head at him before she left the shop. Once the doors were shut, Dante sighed out his breath and walked over to his coat rack, pulling down his trench coat. After he'd put the red leather garment on, he glanced at the guitar case he had sitting in the room near his couch and stepped toward it, reaching down and taking the handle to lift it from the floor while shoving his free hand into his pocket.

"But I will go see someone who I think might know something more about this shit."


	21. Arrival of Rivals

_Arrivals of Rivals_

"I honestly think that look suits you."

"Hmm."

"The hair sets it off."

"It could be."

Lady headed in behind Regan, the women standing in a clothing boutique that Lady liked to frequent, and checked the length of the knee long jacket that Regan was now wearing. It was black, made of leather, and Regan was trying to get a feel for it. She'd never worn a jacket like it before, was more used to the thick types of wool and cotton jackets she wore on the ranch, but that didn't mean she didn't think it looked good. The sleeves were long, the collar pointed, there was a belt that was hanging open, secured to the jacket by the belt loops around the sides, and there was a slit in the back like with most trench coats of that same style which placed the sides around her legs nicely.

After the women had left the hotel room, having hung out for just a while and discussed a few things with Marvin, Lady decided to take Regan to a clothing store because she definitely wanted to let Regan get a coat at the very least to conceal her weapon. Having gone along without hesitation, Regan grabbed her six shooters which she'd packed when she'd come to Capulet City, and headed out the door with the female devil hunter.

"I think blue is your color too," Lady added casually as she tugged on the bottom of the jacket to see the length of it, trying to make sure it would completely conceal Demoncaller.

"Yeah, I hate wearing green like most people would think suits me better, it makes me look like Christmas," Regan grumbled, then saw Lady standing up straight again in the mirror behind her.

"Well, it's long enough," she informed her on reply, "You should be able to hide it pretty easily."

"It's heavy."

"It's leather," Lady smirked. "That's why I never wear it, it weighs me down. You shouldn't have much of a problem with it though. Not with these abilities you have anyway."

"I hope not," Regan muttered on a sighed out breath. Beneath the coat she was wearing a light blue top with a v cut neck and a black stripe down the middle between her breasts, and there was a harness around her shoulders of black that connected beneath her breasts as well, her two six shooters holstered in it under her coat. On her legs was a pair of leather pants which she couldn't say she disliked or liked, they felt comfortable enough, but somehow she got the feeling that if she wasn't wearing a trench coat, she knew exactly where everyone would be looking, and it was behind her.

Rolling her eyes over the thought, Regan turned around in her thick heeled black boots and looked at Lady, adding in a comment the only thing she could think of that was an all encompassing plus about the outfit, "I bet Dante will like it anyway," she chuckled in amusement.

"Probably," Lady smirked, heading to the cashier to pay for everything they'd picked out, and then exited the store without much more of a concern a few moments later.

Lady's bike was parked in the lot outside of it, the two women stopping in front of it, when Lady asked, "So, you're really interested in Dante, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess," Regan replied, "I don't know. You can't help who you like I suppose. He annoyed the hell out of me at first. I guess he just grew on me after a while. He's not as bad as I'd first thought."

"He does that." Lady grinned after making the comment, glancing toward the redhead who was just smiling, seeing a slight look of curious questioning in her green eyes. "What?"

"Why didn't you ever, well, you know?"

Lady snorted, "Me with Dante? It's just laughable somehow. When we get along, it's usually only because we're both kicking someone's ass, and when there's downtime, we're always at each other's throats for some reason or another. Besides," Lady told her as she pushed one of her legs over the bike, "I don't really think he's my type. He's good looking and all, but I think we make much better friends."

Regan smirked over the explanation, then looked around to see that not many people were about. "I can understand that," she started, then looked back at Lady. "You know, I think I might just walk home."

"Oh?," Lady looked back in question, "everything okay?"

"Yeah," Regan nodded reassuringly, not seeming to act as if anything was wrong at all, "I just thought the walk might help me get used to the pants better," she grinned.

"I get it," Lady replied, reaching to the back of her bike and grabbing the hilt covered sword that was hidden within the machinery, slender enough to have been slipped there while the bike sat idle in the parking lot, turning her arm and holding it out to Regan. "Then I'll see you around sometime."

"Yep, looking forward to another shopping spree with you," Regan grinned, taking the sword and putting it on her belt beneath her coat before pulling the leather over it to cover the item completely. Seeing that it was long enough, they both smirked, and Regan let Lady start up her motorcycle after agreeing about the whole shopping bit with her, watching her ride into the distance a moment later. With a soft sigh, Regan turned away from the parking lot and began heading down the sidewalk once she was gone.

As she traversed the streets on the quiet Monday evening, the wind breezing quietly through her red tresses, Regan wondered to herself if she could live up to this kind of world. Knowing the truth would leave her in it for the rest of her life, she understood that, but to be the kind of person she was, or should she say, being the kind of _being _she was, now, would make things harder on her, wouldn't it? Or would it be harder being a simple human?

One of the reasons Regan figured she should walk to Devil May Cry by herself was the number of questions playing through her head. She figured the walk would give her time to consider them. Questions such as if the Ritual failed, or if it was brought to an end, and she survived past that night, would she become human again? Or die from the wound Arias had inflicted upon her all that time ago? Or would she remain what she was now? Some part of her demonic, a part of her she didn't fully understand yet and wondered if she ever would.

What if that was the case though? What would she do after she'd ensured her own survival? Something like Dante or Lady? Hunt devil's for a living instead of raising and training horses? Regan had never considered doing anything else besides her ranching, so the new prospect was kind of scarey to her.

It was while she was having these deep thoughts that a man walked out of the alleyway behind her, closing in, and she got the feeling she was being followed, that someone very familiar was nearby. As she went, she noticed in the rearview mirror of a car she'd passed that she was, in fact, being followed, and from the looks of it, the person following her was wearing a cloak and hood. Just like the man Imp had described.

Her heart skipped a beat with anxiety.

Regan turned down onto an empty road and stopped, looking back to wait. Her hand clutched the hilt of the blade inside of her jacket, slicing air as it was drawn from its sheath. Within the few moments she'd taken to draw the weapon, she questioned in her mind what she was doing, but somehow it just felt like the right thing to do even as she questioned it. At the same time she questioned herself, the man had rounded the corner, and Regan drew her blade up quickly to press the tip against his throat and stop him in his tracks.

They both became still, no one about at all, the wind whipping over them, through Regan's hair and the strange man's robes. Regan let her green eyes wander over him quietly, cloaked, reminding her of some type of monk, the veil of black allowing her to see, as he looked up at her slowly, two silvery white eyes that seemed somehow empty, yet somehow alive at the same time. Imp had been right. The guy _did_ look like death. No eyebrows, sunken in cheeks and eye sockets. A face not even a mother could love, and it was questionable whether or not this figure even _had_ a mother. But Regan pushed those thoughts from her head, and as she was about to demand some identification, he began to tell her the opposite of what she wanted to know.

"You are Regan," he spoke softly to her, his voice somehow light, not as deep as many men's were, and a bit odd to listen to.

"I don't care who I am, I want to know who _you_ are," she replied, her grip on her weapon strong, waiting for a response. "And why you're following me," she added after only a moment.

The man looked from her face and then down at the blade she pointed at him, taking a step toward her, seeming uncaring about the slice of skin he'd caused in his throat by the sword against it, reaching his hand out to place upon her arm. Regan jerked back, not wanting to be touched, and the man simply lowered his arm in response to her refusal of contact.

Finally, he replied to her, "The Gateway will be soon."

Regan's brows narrowed in anger. Bearing her teeth just a slight bit, she asked him, "Then you _are_ one of those cultists."

The man smiled only a bit, lifting his head back, then shaking it no at her, "I am," he paused for a moment, trying to think of the words, "you may call me The Vicar."

"Well, Vicar, cultist, whatever, it's all the same to me, pal," Regan sneered out the words. "And I don't give a damn about The Gateway, it's all a bunch of bullshit that I have no interest in. So you can go back to your boss and tell him he can kiss my fucking ass."

The Vicar remained inanimate as she spoke this. Only his lips moved as he began to reply, "You don't seem to understand. With this ritual in place, as it has come to be already with your infusion of His blood, once completed, your status in this world will rise to Goddess, and you'll be second only to Him."

"Well you can tell 'Him'," she spoke the word pointedly, "that he's a dick and I'd rather die."

"Which you will if the Ritual does not succeed. Are you so eager for such an untimely ending?"

Regan sneered at the being standing before her. She knew he wasn't going to relent, and so she took several steps back, watching him moving toward her. But his words struck a chord. She was going to die if she didn't participate? Not that it swayed her any, she'd rather die than participate, but of course, the news frightened her a bit. And that's when it hit her like a ton of bricks. This person was obviously a demon if his looks and even his title of The Vicar were any indication. And what did demons do best? No doubt he was lying about the whole thing, trying to convince her to just go along with him easily instead of putting up a fuss about it.

No fucking way she intended on doing that however.

Regan finally scoffed. Shaking her head, smirking just a bit, she replied, "If death is the only other choice, then so be it."

"Saddening to hear you say so. I had hoped this would not result in force."

"You're the one who's pushing, asshole, maybe if you'd let it go, there wouldn't _be_ any force!"

Regan only wondered if this was going to result in a fight after she'd said the words, but it damned sure looked like it, and that being the case, she was sincerely hoping that the lessons Dante had given her earlier that day would hold true, even if she'd only taken those lessons for three hours. If not, she had the guns in her trench coat that would be highly useful considering her shooting skills.

_Mind and body one, grasshopper_, Dante's words rang out in her head in that moment. Damn it, where was that cheese ball when she needed him?

The Vicar was still stepping toward her as she considered this, and Regan noticed a centipede crawling from the neck of his robes and along his throat, to somewhere inside of his hood, making her stomach churn. Just run, she told herself, just get the hell out of here. If he followed, maybe she'd be able to find Dante and let him have a piece of this guy. She was pretty sure after all that he was itching for a good fight.

Knowing that was her best bet, since she definitely wasn't an offensive fighter, not at this stage in the game anyway, Regan turned quickly and took off into a sprint, deciding two things in that moment. One, looking back would be bad, and two, the place was too out in the open anyway. If a fight went down, she didn't want it to be where anyone could see her.

Regan had learned a good bit of the area since she'd come to the city, and she knew that, as she ran, she'd reach Dante's shop sooner than she'd reach the hotel room, but considering she didn't know if she actually was being followed or not, she didn't want to risk leading this Vicar guy right to Evelyn, so Dante's shop was definitely her first choice for more than one reason.

She tried to remember her way the best she could, rounding the corner of a street, the sign of which read Branch St, and she knew that led the way she wanted to go. But as soon as she turned the corner, she came to an abrupt stop and stared ahead of herself as The Vicar walked toward her. Letting out a deep breath of air before taking in another one, Regan grumbled out, "You don't give up, do ya?"

"Come with me, Regan."

"Hell. No." Regan enunciated each word and then turned to move down an alleyway adjacent to the area she was currently standing in to take a shortcut, but as she began to move into the enclosed area, The Vicar once more stepped out before her from behind a large dumpster, causing her to stop in her tracks again.

"You have no choice, Regan," he spoke to her, coming to a stop before her. As he did so, Regan heard a sound she'd never heard before, that of vortexes opening up and the sickening groans of demons emerging from them, the Quietus' that she'd first seen killing her then unknown brother. Their greyish colored bodies lumbered toward her, eyeless faces somehow leering and long, sharp tongues hanging from their mouths.

Regan knew it was now or never.

"Well, if I have no choice," she began, "then I'll just have to kick your asses before anything else can happen!"

The party was getting started, and Regan decided she'd have to save her guns for last. After all, she didn't have a seemingly unending supply of bullets like Dante did, and for now, she wasn't even sure if her guns were powerful enough to work anyway. But she had no time to question it. The tongues of the demons had shot toward her, and Regan decided to duck down as they swung over her, pulling out the sword she had concealed in her trench coat, and she rolled to the side. Once she'd hit her knees, she pushed herself up and thought back to her earlier lessons, jabbing the blade into the gut of one of the demons trying to attack her.

As it squealed and its black blood began to splatter onto the ground behind it, Regan jerked her arm away and felt one of the demons tongues wrapping around her arm. Looking back, she sliced her blade down in order to severe the appendage, causing a shriek which she ignored, realizing that another one of the slimy tongues was swinging at her while she'd been temporarily grabbed.

Her instinct kicked in, and she found herself narrowly avoiding a slice to the back by pushing herself forward, realizing as she moved that she was heading closer to yet another Quietus. This wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind, finding that the enclosed space of the alleyway didn't leave her a lot of options, and that trying to avoid one attack nearly led her into another. As she avoided the tongue and came closer to the enemy before her, she turned into a spin and somewhat awkwardly drew her blade around, the sharp edge taking the demons head off without question, leaving her with a slight bit of space to think.

_Don't think, just move_. More of Dante's words of wisdom rang out in her head. No thinking, only action. She had to keep moving.

So, this was how it was done, she considered in the moment she had as she turned from the second demon she'd managed to kill. You had to stay on the offensive. No doubt Lady or Dante, had they been there, would have moved toward the next enemy without thought at all and simply cut them down, much as she had, but with a lot less hesitation. The discovery led Regan to wonder one simple thing.

Was she really going to get out of this alive? Or at least unscathed? Somehow she doubted it.

And she was right. The moment it took her to learn the lesson of staying on the offensive and acting without too much thought or hesitation with these creatures as she had, she felt yet another tongue wrapping around her ankle, and suddenly jerking her up. Falling back with a loud gasp, throughout the shock of the sudden movement, she tried to remember to hold onto her sword tightly as, before she knew it, her entire body was being jerked around and up through the air by the demon who'd grabbed her, slinging her around like a rag doll and into a brick wall hard enough to make it crumble around her body.

The wind was knocked from her lungs and Regan could see a flash of light in her eyes as she tumbled onto the ground, face first, some of the bricks crumbling with her. In the back of her mind, Regan knew that should have hurt much worse than it actually had, but in the front of her mind, it hurt like hell.

She needed more experience, she considered, much more experience. And in the chaos, she didn't think it was too much to ask to have Dante or Lady randomly pop up to help her sorry ass out. Gripping the sword she'd thankfully managed to hold onto throughout her flight into the brick wall, those thoughts suddenly fled from her mind when a sharp tongue jabbed its way down through her shoulder, making her cry out in surprised pain.

Groaning, seeing her blood spilling onto the cemented ground she lay on, Regan looked up when she saw the robed figure of The Vicar stepping before her. She tilted her green eyed gaze up his form, trying to push the pain from her mind as she heard his spoken words filling her ears, "You've not yet been...properly schooled, Gateway. Do you yield now?"

Regan grunted as she pushed herself up, reaching for the tongue in her shoulder when she realized that the demons were simply holding her there, and as she grabbed hold of it, she felt it jerking as if to keep her in place. The pain drew another slight cry from her lips, a cringe on her face, but she forced the tongue out of her shoulder anyway with a lowly made, feminine growl of anger.

Once this had happened, Regan managed to push herself up to her knees, feeling the wound on her shoulder closing up, something she was immensely grateful for, but knew she'd never really get used to, leaving behind the blood alone. Looking up, she breathed out harshly. As she knelt there, sword still in hand, Regan glared through narrowed brows at The Vicar, and she growled out, "Kiss my ass."

With those words, Regan stood up quickly and turned, using one of the moves Dante had taught her just a few hours ago which included striking a target three times in succession with her blade, and she used it on the same demon behind her who'd saw fit to stab her in the shoulder. The difference between herself and Dante, however, was that Regan had realized Demoncaller was much lighter than Rebellion appeared to be, so she managed to pull the move off a bit quicker, leaving her with the time to finish off the move by slicing open the demons gut with a turn to locate her next victim.

But things didn't go that smoothly. Sadly, the Vicar was right. Regan didn't have the proper experience or, for lack of a better word, schooling to keep herself on the upside of the fight as consistently as she might've liked to. As she turned, three of the demons pitted against her stabbed their tongues through her torso including her collar, chest, and shoulder. Regan grunted loudly in pain, the surprise of the attack causing her to drop her sword, Demoncaller falling to the ground with a clatter that resounded throughout the alleyway. But Regan wasn't completely defenseless yet.

With a forceful grunt, she reached for the six shooters strapped to the inside of her trench coat, pulling them both out and aiming them at one of the demons, firing at his torso, watching him shriek and reel back before she turned her arms out and aimed at the two on both sides of her, trying to move in more closely. As the demons fell to the sides away from her, more began to form from vortexes, and Regan stumbled down to a knee as the tongues were pulled from her body with the Quietuses reeling back.

The newly made onslaught by the recently formed demons forced Regan to push herself to the side, outnumbered now seven to one. After she'd pushed herself out of the way, she turned her head up to see her sword laying near the feet of a few demons heading toward her. So she pushed herself forward toward the sword and landed by rolling, grabbing the hilt with her hand as her body moved over the cement, and knocked two of the demons off of their feet in the process with her legs.

Regan came to and pushed herself up, turning and jabbing her weapon into the torso of one of the demons, slicing down another after pulling the blade out of its body to the side, all while The Vicar simply stood back and watched the scene. Two of the demons taken down, five to go, Regan made another attack, but she overstepped her aim, the Quietus knocking her blade back with its arm before shooting its tongue into the center of her chest almost, four more of the slimy appendages impaling her yet again throughout her torso and into one of her legs.

Regan yelled in anguish, blood shooting from her mouth, her fingers trying their damnedest to keep their hold on her weapon this time, but somehow, she could feel the life being sapped out of her, as if she simply could not continue taking this type of beating. In her blurred line of vision, she could see The Vicar stepping before her, her brows narrowed, face contorted in the pain wracking her form, and he stopped in front of her as the Quietuses held her there.

The Vicar looked her face over quietly, reached up a hand in order to wipe some of the blood from her mouth, which then seemed to seep into his own skin, and there almost seemed to be an expression of sympathy across his deathly face.

"Such a beautiful woman does not need to feel this type of pain. Do not be irrational, Regan. I'm offering you a chance not many get, to rise above, become more than what you were meant to be. To help me become more than I am. This...sounds fearful, I know. But I would much rather see you alive than dead."

Regan, breathing heavily, turned her green eyes up to the demonic man before her, and she sneered. But she had a counter offer for him, one that, instead of simply refusing him, would stop all of this chaos once and for all.

"Let Evelyn be. Leave her alone, and I'll agree to your terms."

The Vicar's face was unreadable as he stood there silently before her, watching her as if he might have been considering her offer, then he shook his head slowly. "There can be no deals without her death. Evelyn was born for the sole purpose of this Ritual, Regan. Not long ago, you did not even know of her existence. Does she really mean so much to you? Her life is expendable."

The Vicar found a mix of saliva and blood spit onto his face once he said that, directly into his eye, but even then, he didn't blink or flinch. Instead, he acted as if nothing were there at all. Turning, he slowly began to walk away, saying, "She will die, and you will be my soul in this world, bonded to me eternally. You do not have the strength to defeat me now, and once bonded to me, you never will."

Regan, as he spoke, could feel an anger welling up within her that was sparking to life more and more with each word. Her eyes turned completely white, sclera encompassing her pupils, and she could feel a power radiating through her body from the sword she grasped so tightly. The blade began to turn stark black, and a sound of death and anger could be heard almost as if from the distance. The skull on the pommel of the weapon began to glow where the eye sockets were located, and The Vicar turned and looked back.

Regan had definitely had enough.

Suddenly, from beneath the Quietus's feet, an explosion of black energy rose up, and the smokey visages of demonic spirits birthed forth, shrieking and raging, clawing and tearing at the Quietuses that held Regan captive before The Vicar, consuming them all in an aura of darkness. This had been an unexpected turn of events, and The Vicar watched in a slight bit of surprised confusion, until a blur of movement passed his line of vision and he felt the sharp point of a blade being embedded in his torso.

Standing before him now as he fell to a knee stood Regan, her skin blackened, eyes glowing white, and her hair a mist of fiery blood red wafting about her shoulders, as if smoke and fire in itself. A tail whipped about behind her, attached to her lower spine, her body seeming to sport its own natural armor that enveloped her feminine curves and marked her in hints of red, sparking demonic energy sporadically.

The Vicar didn't seem to be pained by the attack the fanged female demon had just performed on him however, staring up at her as the surge of lesser demons that her sword, now embedded in his lower chest, had summoned up for her with her own unwitting power began to dissipate, leaving the Quietuses completely devastated. Their bodies now lay in pieces, disintegrating into nothing, leaving The Vicar alone with the demonic female standing before him, stabbing him so viciously in the stomach.

Regan stared down at The Vicar, and as she did so, she could somehow feel life flooding back into her body, as if she were healing much more quickly now than she normally would, even in her human form. And only then did she realize that, somehow, she'd physically changed. Though, she didn't remove her eyes from The Vicar to overlook herself, too inflamed with anger to do so.

It was then that The Vicar spoke, "You have proven to me now, Regan, that you are completely worthy. Don't you see that this power is undeniable? You have proven me right."

Regan shoved the sword deeper into The Vicar's body, growling out the words, "Shut up," and she didn't even recognize her own voice. It was darkly demonic now, but she had to finish what she was saying, "I used this power to prove you wrong!"

"But you have not defeated me. You've only showed me how excellent an asset you will become."

"I said," Regan growled as she gripped the sword and jerked it up and away from The Vicar, tearing the sharp blade out of his body and through his shoulder, "**shut up**!"

The Vicar's body fell to the ground in a heap, severed in half vertically, and Regan sucked in a breath as she fell to her knees, her form sparking and returning to its normal state, still covered in blood and for better or for worse, completely dirty. Her sword clinked onto the cement as she hit her knees, then leaned forward onto her hands. Glancing up slowly, she looked at the corpse laying just ahead of her, still and motionless, and she then closed her eyes.

"No, you're wrong," she whispered out, "all of you are wrong."

---

The lights were flashing, the music playing, and the patrons were all drinking and having a good time, watching the ladies dance on the stage, wearing next to nothing, and then nothing itself, stripping like the pros they were.

Love Planet. Always something to be had.

Dante pushed the door to the club open and walked inside, his fist shoved into his pocket, his guitar case in his other hand. As he moved toward the bar, ignoring the dancing ladies across the room on stage for now, hearing other women in the place calling out his name in the process, he reached for a stool and pulled it out, setting his guitar case against the bar itself on the floor next to it.

The bartender was putting some recently cleaned glasses up on the shelf, looking back when he heard the name Dante being called, seeing the white haired man sitting in the stool at the counter, and he smirked a bit, walking over.

"Hey man, haven't seen ya in a few weeks."

"Yeah," Dante muttered, "I know. Been busy."

"Busy, huh? Then you probably have the money to pay off that tab."

"No, actually," Dante replied, "but I did come to see Pearce. He workin' tonight?"

The bartender scoffed, looking back toward the swinging door that led into the kitchen, then to Dante again, "He might be, but he's not gonna give you any drinks until you pay up either."

"Go easy on me, Dave," Dante muttered out, "just go get Pearce, I wanna ask him something."

"Alright," Dave replied, "just watch out though, some of the girls have been looking for ya."

Dave walked off and Dante just lifted a brow slightly, thinking how normally he would've enjoyed hearing that, wondering why he didn't care to this time around. But as he sat and turned in his chair, he saw two of the ladies that Dave had just mentioned standing near by now, staring at him with their arms crossed over their, well, bountiful chests. Suddenly it came crashing back to him why he wasn't so enthused over hearing they'd been looking for him.

He'd promised them rounds the next time he'd showed up.

"Dante Sparda!" The blonde started. "Where have you been?"

"Yeah, sweety, we've been worried about you," the brunette added.

"So I see," Dante replied, pushing one arm up onto the bar to lean on, casting a charming grin at them despite his lack of enthusiasm at their presence. "You guys look as busty as ever."

The blonde began to giggle, then she pointed a finger at him, "Hush, I don't wanna hear it. You said you were going to buy us rounds and show us your place."

"Yeah! I wanna see your sweet sound room!"

Sound room? Damn, how the fuck drunk _was_ he the last time he'd come out here? Did they think he was some kind of recording artist or something? Lifting a single brow, Dante sighed out, "Sorry babes, sound room's under renovation right now. That's where I've been. Stereo system busted out on me and I had to spend a fortune to get it fixed. So no rounds tonight, and no tour."

"Awww," both girls drew out sadly and exchanged a pouting glance with one another, and then the brunette looked back over at him and smiled, "it's okay, sweety, we can come over some other time, right?"

Sure, Dante thought to himself, whenever he actually built a sound room for himself. "Sounds like a party," he told them instead.

They both giggled and then leaned in, kissing his cheeks, followed by turning to go back to where they'd come from, waving at him the entire way. Dante was staring to think that booze might've been part of his rotten luck with women, but he also considered that he was damned fortunate Regan wasn't there. Not only would she have spilled the truth, but she also would've probably added a slap to the face to the two he'd get from the women who'd just kissed his cheeks instead of hitting him for lying to them.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen someone more full of shit than you, Dante," came a voice from behind the bar.

Turning to look back, Dante saw the man he'd come to talk to, Garret Ethan Pearce, the owner of Love Planet. The man was what several women would call perfection to the eye, chiseled features, completely muscular body, tall, long black hair in a pony tail, and blue eyes that could melt. Dante had seen the guy fighting off women before for more or less, and he could only wonder how fitting it was that the guy had inevitably opened up a strip joint.

"Well," Dante started, "at least I entertain. What the hell did I tell them?"

Chuckling, Pearce walked toward the counter and leaned an arm against it, shaking his head slowly, "Just that you were in an amazing rock band. The guys thought the shit you were saying was so fucking funny, we just let you go on and on about how you make millions off of your albums every year."

Dante gave Pearce a bland look, then asked, "You'd think they would wonder why they'd never heard of me before if that was the case."

"They did ask that actually. You're reply was something like you were the sound man, that's why you weren't so well known."

"Christ," Dante muttered out, sitting back in his stool.

Pearce just grinned at the devil hunter, tilting his head a bit before asking him, "So what brings you here anyway? Where's my damned money?"

Watching Dante roll his eyes, Pearce pulled up his own seat and waited for a response. Finally, he got one in the form of, "Give me a break for now. I came to ask you about something entirely different, Pearce. I need to know if you've seen someone around or not."

"Yeah, I figured you wanted information on something, otherwise you wouldn't have shown up without something to pay to me. So, do we need a more private place to talk?"

Considering the subject matter, Dante decided a booth might've been the better ticket, one where his back was against the wall so he could see the entire room, and a moment later they were both heading toward one, sitting down across from each other, ignoring everything else going on around them. Pearce, once he was settled, leaned an arm against the table, and waved his hand casually, "So?"

"This might be asking for a needle in a haystack, but I was wondering if you've seen any creepy people about lately."

Dante watched the man snorting in amusement, giving him a grin. "You sure you haven't been drinking already, Dante?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, otherwise I'd be happy," Dante replied blandly. "In particular, I'm talking about a guy in a hood and cloak, looks like death."

Pearce narrowed his brows over the description, while somewhat vague, it was also pretty specific, and with a shake of his head, he asked, "Demon?"

"Could be."

"Well, I asked because you know how the girls have been wondering about where you were?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I've had other people asking about you too, just a day or two ago. I haven't seen anyone in a cloak and hood though, but I did see a guy come in here when we were slow during the day not too long ago. When he heard one of the girls mentioning your name to each other, he asked to know if the name was yours."

Dante narrowed a white brow quietly, glancing over the bar behind Pearce, asking as he looked at the patrons, "What'd they tell him?"

"Nothing. Well, not anything that was true. They gave him that cockamamy fish story you told 'em when you were drunk. When he started asking to know if they were completely sure, I told him to beat it if he wasn't gonna buy anything. That's when he asked for a drink and started asking me if I knew you."

"What'd you tell him?"

"Just that I might and I might not. The dude smiled at me when I said that though, kinda weird. But I just went about my business, deciding if he had anything else to say, he'd say it."

That _was_ a little strange, Dante considered, deciding that whoever it was might have had something to do with this guy that Imp saw. "What'd he look like?"

"Eh," Pearce drew out, "kinda short, maybe five, five or five, seven, blonde hair, skinny. But he did say something else, he gave me a message for you the next time I saw you. Which is why I haven't just thrown your ass out yet with the tab you owe me."

"What are friends for," Dante replied somewhat sarcastically. "So, what's the message?"

Pearce scoffed slightly, seeming somehow amused, and he sat back against his booth seat, shaking his head slowly. "Hell if I know what it means but he said you'd understand." He told me to tell you that our common foe has arrived. That make any sense to you?"

Too much sense, Dante thought to himself. Arias was around, and even though that hadn't been the man that Dante was asking about in specific, the words Arias had left for Dante rang a bell so loud that it probably could've been heard by Pearce if the man had been listening hard enough. "Yeah, I know what it means. And I think I need to go now."

"Must be a damned big message if you're leaving just like that without trying to worm a drink out of me first."

"Actually," Dante reached into his pocket and pulled out some money, tossing it onto the table in front of the guy, "have a drink ready for me whenever I come back again. I'm pretty sure that'll cover it and my tab."

"Holding out on me, I see," Pearce replied, counting the money quietly as Dante grabbed his guitar case and stood up straight. Looking up at the white haired demon hunter, he asked, "What's this all about anyway?"

"I'm not quit sure yet," Dante shrugged, "maybe it'll make a better fish story than the sound man though."

Smirking as he put the ninety seven dollars Dante had just given him into his pocket and worked his own way up from the booth, Pearce told the retreating devil hunter, "Any fish story would be better than that one."

Dante snorted softly and lifted a hand, tilting it at the owner of his favorite club in farewell before he found his way to the door. He knew one thing was for sure as he left the place however. The man looking for information on the Gateway Ritual who'd then trashed Imp's shop was apparently no one's friend in all of this.

If this cloaked person was actually Democrities, Dante knew the next step was already being taken. He'd have to keep an eye out on Regan now. Somehow he got the feeling she might start acting strange in the near future.


	22. Differing Similarities

_**A/N**_: This is just a note to let everyone know two things. First off, I'm sorry for the long ass time it's taken to update this story, but life has a funny way of distracting you completely from the shit you'd _rather_ be doing lol. The second thing is this, and this is important...

I had to write this chapter THREE TIMES. The first time because my word program froze and I lost the entire story, the second because I had to reformat my harddrive, and I can't even remember why I had to rewrite it the third time.

That being said, this chapter isn't as long as was previous intended. I might be able to rewrite something with ease, twice if I'm in a patient mood, but THREE TIMES! I'll just say that the motivation to get everything in this chapter spotlessly clean died during round two, and this time around, I did my damnedest to make sure the point was gotten across and nothing more. That being said, if you find a lack of description or length in this chapter as compared to the other ones, then please feel free to complain, but at least you'll know why LoL xD!

Thanks to everyone for reading, and sorry for the irritating author's note lol! Game on!

-GieGie

_Differing Similarities_

The lights at Devil May Cry were out. Past midnight, and knowing that Dante could be a night owl, Regan wondered if he had left or if he might been there and awake. Maybe he'd just turned the lights out because he was closed for business.

Whatever the reason for the unlit, lonely looking building, she wasn't exactly sure which she'd rather be the case.

But either way it went, she pushed the doors open and let them shut behind her, looking around the empty office area quietly. The ceiling fan was turning languidly, casting twisting shadows over the only lit areas of the office that came from the streetlight outside of the building in the distance, the shadows rolling over the furniture and the pool table in a manner that made the place seem almost deserted. With a sigh, Regan moved toward the couch settled near the stairs and dropped down onto it with a soft squeak of the cushion beneath her.

_You're demonic now_. She knew this, but the situation hadn't really hit home until that evening. She wasn't just human anymore, and likely, she could be stuck this way for the rest of her life. Looking down, she saw Demoncaller's hilt resting against her hand, the tip against the floor, still covered with dried blood, and she let out a soft breath.

Would this sword end up becoming an appendage?

The fight had proven to her that she had no choice. She would have to fight, or face an existence she didn't want. There was no way to stop it, and nothing to be done about it. It was completely overwhelming, and she couldn't wrap her head around it. Even though she'd known this all along, she just wasn't comfortable anymore. She felt weary in her own skin, like it wasn't hers. She'd changed, she wasn't the same, and she could only wonder how she was supposed to fit in now? How did she get by from day to day being so different?

Dante was different too. Somehow, the events of the evening gave her an entirely new perspective on his person, on the reasons why he was the way he was. He'd been different his entire life, and apparently, had to suffer on top of that because of the infamous figure his father had become. But if there was anyone around that could understand what she was going through, he'd likely be the person.

She wanted to ask him so many questions, but at the same time, she didn't want to say anything at all. She just wanted to rest, go back to her hotel room and go to sleep, so maybe she'd awaken in the morning and none of this would have ever happened. She wasn't even sure what she would call herself now. Demoness? The Gateway? A rancher formerly known as a human?

A sigh parted her lips, her green eyes rolled, and she settled Demoncaller against the couch to rest there, remembering how Dante had told her to always take it with her. He'd been right - she'd needed it tonight. The thought proved to her that, like she'd considered before, he would understand what she was going through, and held several answers to questions she wanted to ask, but also didn't want to bother him with.

The only reason she was here now at all was because of her current condition. Dried blood marred her face, knotted up in her red hair, and her clothing was disheveled and dirty. She couldn't go back to the hotel room with Marvin and Evelyn there and possibly spook them both, especially not Evelyn. She also needed to tell Dante that she'd taken the creepy guy out. Whether this was all over or not she had no idea, but she could at least relay the information to him. He needed to know after all.

With that determination in mind, she stood up to traverse the stairs.

Dante wasn't asleep. Instead, he was laying in his bed with his arms up behind his head, locks of white covering his eyes, thinking about what Pearce had told him at Love Planet. Somehow he got the feeling that Arias would be coming to see him in the next few days in order to form some kind of truce, or perhaps Arias's ploys were going to be a little more colorful. Who knew? But one thing Dante _did_ know was that he wouldn't kill Arias the next time he saw him. After all, the illusionist might prove to be useful in taking out a few threats before anything else could happen.

But those thoughts had eventually fled his mind. Regan popped into his head, and he opened his eyes to glance at the time. Fifteen til one in the morning. He knew Lady couldn't be keeping her out for that long shopping for clothing if only because the clothing stores didn't - and if they did, they _shouldn't_ - stay open that long. Dante liked his fashion too, but women took it to a whole new level that his male brain couldn't comprehend.

He had the mind to go check on her and find out what the hell had happened. She might have had reservations about, as she'd put it, ditching Marvin and Evelyn in order to come and hang out with him - or sleep with him - but she wouldn't just stand him up, not with everything going on. And if she _had_ just stood him up, he was going to have a thing or two to say to her about it.

Dante knew his luck with women wasn't the shiniest in the book, but standing someone up was just fucking _rude_.

It was when he had that thought that he heard footsteps coming from outside of his door, and he glanced over, guessing he wasn't stood up after all. When her silhouette appeared on the other side of the frosted glass window framed in his door, he listened to the knob turning and then the door opening, wondering to himself what she would say to explain where she'd been.

The room was dark, only the light from a neon sign that read "Budwiener" cast any light and it wasn't much, red and blue streaks across various surfaces glowing slightly, including across the white haired hunter's face. Seeing her standing in the doorway, shadowed out because of the door itself, Dante asked, "What took ya so long?"

"Sorry, I just wanted to let you know I ran into that creepy guy Imp warned us about, The Vicar. That's what he called himself."

She looked over his shirtless form laying there, deciding that she couldn't be more confident in her decision not to stick around considering how filthy she felt and how badly she actually did want to stay just because it would be the best distraction ever. But he would likely turn his nose up at her because who the hell wanted a woman covered in blood and gore?

"I wanted to let you know I managed to handle him," she went on without missing any beats. "But I'm a little tired, so I think I'm going to–"

The lamp settled next to the bed turned on, and Regan squinted, her eyes having adjusted to the darkness. Before she could say anything else - or even see that he'd stood up - she heard him drawing out, "Fucking hell, Regan, you must have done a little more than handle him."

"I know, but I'm–"

"The hell you're leaving," he said, knowing where she was going with her words as he took her wrist. "I'm gettin' tired of you running off all the fucking time."

"I know, but," she repeated, then blinked when he drug her along. "I'm filthy Dante. And I'm not really in the mood to be social." _Liar_.

Dante began pulling her along toward his stairs to go down them. As he went, he said, "I know what you're in the mood for. Killing someone, whoever you can find, that did this to you. And who said I wanted to be social?"

Regan blinked at his odd moment of perception there, and as they reached the landing at the bottom of the steps and he started heading into the back of his shop, she asked, "How'd you guess that?"

"I didn't have to guess, I can see it in your eyes. Whatever happened to you got your fighting instinct going, and now you think that a night of laying in bed with nothing to do is gonna help it, but I'll have to say keep dreamin', sweetheart."

_Great_, she thought to herself_, so apparently not only am I some kind of demon, but I'm a killer too_. Groaning over the notion, she asked it outright, "Then you're saying I need to go out and find someone to kill?"

"Something to do in general," he corrected, coming to the darkened room of his bathroom, flipping on the light switch before he stopped at the tub and began to run the water. "Killing, fighting, drinking, anything but laying around with all of the time in the world to make yourself feel more like shit than you ever have, and apparently already do."

Regan frowned, asking, "Was I _that_ obvious?"

Once the water had gotten warm, he turned the shower on, then stood up and turned around to face her. Shrugging, he drew out, "It's not as simple as that, nothing ever is."

Where was this side of him coming from all of a sudden? She wasn't completely sure she liked it, but at the same time, she was also glad for it. _Maybe it's because he actually understands what you're going through_.

When she stayed quiet, Dante reached over and tugged her coat off. She let him, and heard him grumbling, "Why the hell do I have to miss all of the action anyway. What did you do to them?"

Regan snorted, finally relaying the tale of the evening to him, and as he tugged off her shirt and tossed it to the side carelessly, she finally met his gaze. "I'm not...ever going to be the same again, am I?"

"You asking that because you triggered?"

"I what?"

"Triggered. Your demonic side went into a rage and unleashed itself. It's not the official name for it, but I thought it was pretty damned suiting."

Once she understood it was a term he'd coined for the transformation she'd experienced, Regan looked away and shrugged, "Maybe." After a moment of silent thought over the matter, she let out an exasperated breath and said, "I just don't get it. Why does this have to happen to _me_? I know that sounds self important, but I was born a human, not _this_, and I just..."

He'd simply pursed his lips as her outburst occurred and then ended with a trailed off sentence that she apparently didn't know how to end. With a slow nod, he said, "Yeah, it's rough."

Finally, Regan looked up at him again. Biting her lip, she asked, "What about you? Do you ever do that?"

"Willingly when I'm pissed enough," he told her, "and sometimes not so willingly. I'd say you'll get used to it, but who knows. But you'll probably feel better when you get a bath anyway. I know how you girls always like to be clean and pretty looking or whatever."

She finally found a small smile over that sentiment, looking down and taking her belt buckle to undo it so she could get into the shower. "I do look like shit right now."

She could see him tilting his head from the corner of her eyes as if to regard her thoroughly, and then heard him say on a somewhat amused tone, "Actually I think you look fucking sexy. Don't come across many women who can kick someone's ass and wear blood as nice as you do."

Regan's smiled grew a little bigger. "Why do you always have to say shit that makes me feel a little better?"

"Because it frustrates you when you just wanna be angry and kick shit around and I think it's funny."

"Ass," she muttered, turning her smile up at him after she'd pulled her pants off. Tossing them aside, taking up his habits in the process - because she didn't give a damn to fold or properly place her new outfit in that moment - she found him drawing her over to himself with his hand on her arm.

"Dante, I'm still dirty."

"I know," he told her, and turned her around to pull her bra off himself, followed by her panties. Once he stood again from pushing them down and off of her legs, he began to undo his own pants, and in the process, he added, "But killing two birds with one stone sounds like a good idea."

"What two birds? You look like you're clean enough."

"Not those two. You need a bath, and I was waiting for you to come back."

She bit her lip, watching him disrobe and suddenly deciding maybe staying wasn't that bad of an idea. Somehow, she could see a blinking sign over Dante's head in her mind that was pointing at him saying _needed distraction here_. So she turned and climbed into the shower while he peeled his pants off and left them where they were on the floor. But she stopped him from getting in by lifting her hand.

"Hold on, dirty boy, let me at least wash this shit off first. Believe me when I say that guy was disgusting to look at, let alone be covered in his gruel."

Dante grinned, watching her as she scrubbed her hands over her face just to start off, getting most of the areas clean without much fuss, also drenching her masses of red curls in the process. Regan used a bit of shampoo in them to really get the kinks out and then rinsed, letting the suds wash down over the curves of her body. Dante didn't mind watching that one damned bit. With a grin, he thought to himself _I can be a very patient man_.

Regan drew her hands down her arms and then went back up and over her breasts while he watched - those soft mounds bouncing back into place. He just stared at them, unable to help it. _Good things come to those who wait, right? Cause I'm gonna..._

He found his arm grabbed in the middle of his considerations of what he'd like to do to her, and Regan tugged on him. "Stop staring at me and get in," she drew out with a tiny grin on her face that was playful if nothing else. She knew from his expression that he'd been watching and thinking and hadn't realized he could have gotten in any time he wanted to. She was a little embarrassed by it, but she also found it humorous.

Dante's smirk never faltered, and he let her tug him in with her while saying, "I'm still going to stare at you whether I'm in the shower or not."

She drew the curtain shut just before she turned to face him and leaned up, meeting him halfway for a kiss as her hands slipped up against his chest. "Maybe, but it's better in than out. And don't crack some perverted joke, that one was too easy."

"I was just going to say that I agree," he grinned, pulling her fully against his newly wetted body in order to kiss her properly, letting his tongue meet hers with a deep stroke inside of her mouth.

The kiss didn't take long to get either of them panting a good bit, the heat their bodies created together seeming to make the hot water dousing them steam up the room even more quickly. Regan let her fingers trace across the muscle of his torso through the beads of water gathering there while Dante used one hand against her lower back to hold her closely in place while the other cupped her generously sized breasts, squeezing and palming one without hesitation.

His thumb brushed her nipple, making it stiffen completely, drawing a pleasured whimper from the back of Regan's throat. In reaction, her hands became more greedy, washing trails of water up his broad back. "This is," Regan took in a breath as the kiss broke off, "nicer than I'd thought it would be."

"I keep forgetting you haven't done these things before."

"That's not what I mean," she breathed out, turning her face to his throat to press kisses against it. "I meant, I didn't think I'd be in the mood."

Giving a shake of his head that said he couldn't understand why not, he gripped the bottom of her chin to lean in and kiss her once more, slanting his mouth again and again over hers until she sagged before he backed her up against the far wall and broke it off.

"Either way, I'm just going to have to work a bit harder to show you how good it all is. Then you'll wonder why you'd think you wouldn't be in the mood to begin with."

Taking in another breath, her head in a rush, Regan let her green eyes open and peered up at him, asking, "How hard will you have to work?"

Dante reached down and gripped her hips to hoist her up, her legs parting around his thighs. As they did, she'd slipped her hand down low to grasp his thick erection, sliding her fingers across it and listening to him groaning in response.

"I think you can see for yourself," he told her, lips against her ear, hips rocking against her fingers as she squeezed him. Running his lips along her throat, Regan felt the cap of that stiff shaft brushing between her thighs, against the slit of her sex, and she arched her back with a pleasured murmur filling the shower stalls around them.

Dante could feel her arching into him, gripping her ass in his hands more tightly in response before he drove his hips up against her. Regan jerked against the tease to her clit the movement provided. Back and forth, creating a tease of heat that made them both breathless, and restless to go further.

Regan wondered if it might hurt her again, but she almost didn't care. The slip and slide of flesh to flesh was far to distracting and, of course, tempting to ignore, to worry over a little pain or discomfort in the process of feeling something so damned good. She also didn't even care to wonder where this might all lead in the grander scheme of things. All she wanted to focus on was the here and now, and how it felt in that moment, which was completely good and right to her.

Dante had dipped his head down to find her breast, catch the tip in his lips, tugging her nipple with his teeth. When he felt her becoming more restless, the moan she let driving a hot fire through his blood to make him continue, he couldn't help but moan lowly, flick his tongue against the hardened peak.

"I want you."

Her breathlessly spoken words made him lift his head. "Yeah?"

"Don't wait, Dante," she replied, "I want it."

Dante let a little groan, seeing a more demanding side of her coming out, one that he had to wonder over. Was it her recent change of nature that was demanding this now, or was she really so heated already that she couldn't stand to wait for a little more teasing?

He released her legs and let them slip back down his thighs so that she was standing before him. Once he had, he hooked an arm behind her and slipped his hand down against her ass and to her inner thigh. "You want what, exactly?," he asked as he lifted her leg up to part them while his opposing hand snaked down past her naval and between her legs to rub against her sex.

Regan panted a little harder, clenching her fingers into his shoulder as her eyes closed. "You know what I want."

Dante let his fingers slide back and forth across the seam of her sex, pushing the pad up against her tight entrance, feeling the wetness there that he drew back to use against her budded clit. She jolted when he did that, moaned as he started to circle the swollen button, and told her, "I don't think I do, actually. You wanna be fingered, that what you're trying to say?"

"You're the lewdest, most unashamed person I've ever met," Regan gasped out accusingly, "and now you're trying to play coy?" She reached for his hip with one hand and grasped her fingers around his thick shaft with the other, stroking the length back and forth in a tight fisted squeeze a few times before she bit out, "This, Dante. I want you to fuck me."

She'd definitely spelled it out. Dante had pressed his forehead against hers, letting a low groan as waves of pleasure coursed through his body, inciting him to push his thick digit up inside of her, in and out with a slow thrust, just to feel how tight and wet she was for him already.

"All you had to do was say so, baby."

Regan was too aroused to be frustrated by his coy playfulness just then, letting a low moan when he turned and hefted her up again, finding the strength he had to do that completely attractive in that moment. She let her legs part around him eagerly, her entire body thrumming with desire as he moved between her legs, still gripping him, shivering when she heard him whispering, "Guide it, baby, put it where you want it so bad."

Regan couldn't help a little whimper, his voice a low, ragged murmur that showed he was just as ready as she was to have more than they'd gotten so far. Moving her hand, she did exactly as he'd said, pushing down until she could feel that heated cap pushing at her entrance. As it became wedged, started to stretch her open, she felt Dante's hips push forward to bury it deep inside her waiting body. Drawing her hand away from him, she was cut off from gasping by his kiss, taking the masculine groan he'd sounded deep in her mouth.

It didn't hurt, not one damned bit. Regan could only feel a stretching between her legs as he penetrated her so deeply, and it didn't bother her at all, only filled her, heated her inside to a fevered pitch. The sounds he made as he rocked his hips in a grinding motion inside of her didn't douse that heat either, only made it grow.

Regan grasped her arms around him tightly, lifting her hips as she gripped his own between her thighs tightly, and let a loud moan when he started rocking in and out of her tight walls. The kiss broke as her head fell back, and Dante's eyes became glued to her face, his motions hard and demanding, moderately paced so that each drive home inside of her made her jolt and let a little moan that grew louder with time.

She was wet silk all around him, her muscles clenching at his throbbing shaft. Dante had often thought to himself that if there was in fact a heaven, it was in a woman's body, and he felt no differently now. It was like fire, driving home inside of her tight walls between her thighs, and the thought made him increase his pace, groaning lowly when she clenched up so tightly he could only wonder how he was still thrusting.

Regan's hips drove back against him, meeting him so that every hard pump was that much more intense, creating a slap of flesh that was lewd and altogether erotic in sound.

The movements were hard and demanding, nothing gentle or slow. It was full of need and wanting, wet skin slipping against wet skin, and what little was spoken were names, moans, and cries of pleasure.

Dante felt a tightness in his groin that signaled his oncoming orgasm. Regan wasn't far behind him as she clenched tightly and drew her nails across his back without even realizing it. The friction between her thighs was white hot, and when she gasped out his name, her back arching so that each move he made caused her breasts to brush along his chest, she heard his lowly groaned demand, "Come on, baby, that's it."

Teetering on the edge, Regan couldn't stop herself. She spasmed around him, falling into the void that consumed her completely, just as she felt that hard pounding between her thighs that suddenly stopped with a harsh jolt as Dante found his own release at the exact same time. It was so demanding that Regan couldn't help but drag her teeth across his throat where she'd buried her face while she clutched at him so tightly, trying to jolt her hips over him while he held her hips in place.

Dante slammed himself inside of her again in response, groaning lowly, spilling himself completely, and he sank to his knees with her as their mutual release began to die down around them. Sated by the experience, dripping wet with the water from the showerhead, they panted harshly in the aftermath.

Coming still against one another, Dante let his hands fall to her hips as they rested on their knees, moaning her name out along with, "Fuck, why can't every night be like this?"

"You're not done, are you?," she asked him, giving him a playful look that was expressed through a blush staining her cheeks.

It didn't surprise him as much as he just hadn't expected her to ask such a thing. He lifted a brow, and just as playfully, told her, "No, ma'am. I hadn't thought of ending it just yet. Why? Still feeling frisky?"

"Very," she admitted, leaning up to brush her lips along his. After the show of affection, she added, "I just wanna stay all night."

"Pull an all nighter? I think my stamina's up to it."

Regan couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit. "You're always so quick to jump into things, and then when they're going your way, you act like you can't handle it, you goofball."

Dante was grinning at her. When she saw the look, she shook her head at him and added, "I do it sometimes too though. I don't think you and I are all that different."

Considering those words, the water still pouring down over them both, dripping from the ends of their hair and down along their flesh, Dante nodded. Sure, they came from different places, but they had a lot of similarities between them. While the ride had been frustrating, it was starting to produce some interesting twists, and if he had to do it over again, he probably would just so he could meet her. She was dedicated, fiery, spirited, and he admired that.

Before he could say a word about it though, she said softly, "I know you don't want to make any big plans, but if something should happen to me, I'm extremely glad that we met."

"Don't start playing the 'I'm dying' card, Regan."

"I'm not," she shook her head quickly. "Really, I just wanted to say it before anything else can happen, so you'd know no matter what happens."

He could understand that, and he smirked at her. "Alright. Then I'll say the same thing back to you. No matter how irritated I've been by this whole mission, I'd do it again just because you were there."

Regan finally found a genuine smile. While they sat there, in the bottom of the tub, kept warm by one another and the water that was still hot enough, though they could tell it was starting to die down in temperature, Regan gave him a nod of understanding and kissed him. It was a mutual understanding, one that didn't need words to validate it. They didn't care for declarations of love or caring just then, but instead, were happy they'd found something in one another that they could relate to, something that connected them, which was quite rare indeed.

It was more than either of them had asked for, and something they'd wanted somewhere deep down that they wouldn't have admitted to verbally, or even to themselves in their own heads. Maybe they were falling in love with one another, who knew, but what seemed most important in that moment wasn't that they would, but rather that they both still had the capacity to no matter what hands life had dealt them.

As the kiss broke, Regan told him, "Alright, let's go up stairs before this hot water runs out and we start getting mushy on each other."

"Took the words right out of my mouth."


	23. Common Foe

_Common Foe_

It took Imp about a week to get his shop straightened up completely. During that time, Marvin signed on with the Capulet Police Department, and told Dante that if he ever came across anything suspicious that could have potentially been up the devil hunter's alley, he'd let him know without question. Dante had yet to form any type of connections with anyone on the police force - not solid anyway, so this was new for him. He'd been jailed once or twice, but those incidents definitely didn't warrant any friendships to form, so it was nice to know someone who might be able to get in a word to him edgewise about potential jobs before anyone else knew about them.

Not to mention someone who could vouch for him whenever he got into trouble again.

Evelyn stayed with Regan during the day. Marvin had told her that she needed to relax about worrying over caring for her niece and thinking she might have been putting him at any impositions with her. As Marvin put it, he found taking care of Evelyn to be extremely distracting, and while she wasn't his own kid - who he'd begun to miss terribly - he had began to care about Evelyn just as much.

So he told her to go stay with Dante whenever she saw fit to. He actually wanted her to because, with as much as he'd lost himself, he knew Regan was also experiencing difficulties with this new demon half she'd acquired, on top of the loss of her own family and friends. Dante, he felt - while not the most consoling individual - would help her more than anyone else could whether he did so indirectly or not.

So Regan spent her days at the office, while Evelyn helped her to either clean the place up or to cook, because Regan felt that the least she could do was get Dante a home cooked meal once in a while.

Or pizza worked. Regan had to call Andy's pizza place when she realized that Dante's stove had apparently decided to kick the bucket the first night she tried to flip it on to cook him something decent. She was starting to wonder if he actually liked pizza or was just to broke to fix his appliances. Then again, this _was_ Dante.

Dante didn't complain about her attempts to get things straightened out either. His place got cleaner everyday, and he had a hot redhead to watch taking care of the tasks. He ended up sitting back at his desk, taking a phone call or two while she worked on various things. But if she needed help in moving something, such as the pool table so that she could clean under it, he would get up to do it for her because he wasn't going to leave her high and dry when it was _his_ shop she was cleaning up.

Lady stopped by and, during the middle of that week, she started teaching Evelyn how to play pool. The little girl was apparently a natural, and won a round against Dante, though Lady and Regan seriously wondered if he let her or not despite his claims that he hadn't. So Regan played a round with her, and when Evelyn beat her too, she decided that Dante had been telling the truth after all.

In the evenings, Regan helped Marvin find an apartment to move into, and it didn't take much time to do. Marvin found one that was three blocks away from Devil May Cry, and Regan helped by putting herself on the lease because she had extremely good credit, and the deposit wasn't as much with her on the deal.

Regan knew she would be welcome anytime there also, so she wasn't against helping the man out one bit. Evelyn loved the apartment to boot, and asked if she could live there, to which Regan and Marvin both replied that she could stay as long as she wanted to. Regan, after all, didn't want to deprive Marvin of Evelyn's company because, like he'd felt toward her, she thought the man could use the distraction from his losses.

A last effort that Regan made was to get her hands on Evelyn's birth certificates for adoption purposes only to find out that Evelyn didn't have any. It dismayed her to think of what she'd learned - that Nathan had originally had Evelyn just to kill her in sacrifice to Democrities - and she knew that was the reason that there were no certificates at all. It definitely made the process harder, but she and Marvin cooked up a story of a fire so that they could have the certificates replaced.

It would take a couple of weeks for the papers to come in, but that gave Regan a good bit of time to plan more thoroughly for the whole endeavor of becoming Evelyn's mother much more thoroughly, so it worked out in one of those strange fashions that wasn't expected.

Regan and Dante continued their affairs with one another at a casual pace. Things got heated, then cooled off, and neither were oblivious to the fact that even though they tended to argue, they also managed to make up over things fairly easily. Dante was starting to grow accustomed to seeing her around his shop, and on the flip side, Regan was getting very used to hearing comments about her ass on a frequent basis.

She was settled on top of a ladder now in the office of Dante's shop, unscrewing the light fixture because it'd been flickering whenever it was turned on. Regan wasn't a complete 'handy man' so to speak, but working on the ranch required knowledge of indoor maintenance, and Regan knew a little bit about electrical wiring because of it. So she'd decided to try to fix the device just to keep things in good working condition.

"I've never seen such a good looking handy man."

She'd heard the door opening just before those words hit her ears, and she snorted in amusement. Wearing a simple blue tank top and a pair of black cotton shorts and sneakers on her feet, with a utility belt around her narrow waist, she looked back to see Dante standing at the base of the ladder, looking up at her.

"Seriously, I've never seen a tool belt look so sexy. It's startin' to get me hard."

"Oh good grief," Regan rolled her eyes, "I'm sure you haven't, but I'm also sure that if I wore a potato sack, you'd say the same thing."

"It's a possibility."

Grinning, she chuckled softly before changing the subject of her currently accessories by saying, "You know, your shop has a pretty decent structure, but the wiring looks like it could use some touch ups."

"That's because I had to have most of it rebuilt, and I ran out of money before everything could be finished off completely."

"Rebuilt?," Regan asked, peering into the hole on the ceiling where she'd unscrewed the fixture.

"Yeah," he replied, thinking about the demonic attack that had rendered it asunder a good while back now. "Let's just say I had some unwelcome house guests."

"Oh, I gotcha," Regan replied as she pulled her hands away from the hole, and then gasped and grabbed the ladder when it suddenly shook without warning.

"Dante! Stop it!"

He grinned, having reached over to shake the ladder with her perched on it, saying in response, "It's not me, it's an earthquake."

"Sure it is, devil boy. Stop playing around. If you've got time for that, then climb up the other side and help me out."

Dante had stepped to the other side when she mentioned that, joking as he said, "But I might get hurt."

He heard her scoff, which made him grin as he worked his way up, and once at the top, he asked, "What do you need me for?"

Regan gave him a little grin that was suggestive, saying, "Well, I could get all pervy on _you_ this time, but I'll do something you never do and pass up on the opportunity. Here," she handed him a flashlight, "just hold that so I can see and use both hands."

Dante took the flashlight, shaking his head at her as if she'd done something wrong. "See, you could have capitalized so hard just now," he began as he pointed the flashlight up for her. "You could've had me blushing, and telling you to _shutup_," he said in a girly tone of voice to mock her.

Regan couldn't concentrate for that brief moment, squeezing her eyes shut as she laughed. "I'm sorry Dante, but I don't think you were born with the ability to blush."

He chuckled, about to make a response when the front doors of the shop opened up and interrupted him. Lady came walking in with Imp trailing behind her, and they looked up to see the two on top of the ladder.

As they looked the two over, Lady asked, "Did you manage to get him off of his ass and help out, Regan?"

"Yeah, all it took was a sexy utility belt," she replied, smirking over the thought.

"I see, I guess his only complaint is that–," she stopped when she heard Imp snickering because he'd read her thought before she'd said it.

Lady grinned at him while Imp said, "Yeah, he _is_ thinking that."

Dante snorted. He'd been thinking about Regan in nothing _but_ the tool belt, proving Lady had a slight inkling of where his thoughts drifted to from time to time. But Regan asked, "Thinking what exactly?"

"Nothing," Dante grinned, "maybe if you're nice, I'll show ya later."

"Uh huh, what, that I'm wearing clothing instead of _just_ the tool belt?"

"Damn straight," he drew out, glancing down at her chest. Before he could stare for too long though, he felt Regan pushing his chin up with her index finger, and he just grinned at her, focusing on the flashlight once more.

While she worked, Dante asked, "So, how's the shop doing, Imp?"

"Much better thankfully," Imp called back as he went over to Dante's desk and climbed onto it. "Everything's fixed again as of this morning, and I even got a "No Cloaked People Allowed" sign up outside of my door."

"Too bad you can't just say no evil assholes, right?"

"Yeah," Impa replied to Regan's question, "though if I _did_ put that sign up, it would definitely get me some attention."

"There's a nice marketing scheme," Lady smirked, having come to stand by the desk with Imp while they talked.

"So what are you guys doing here anyway?," Dante asked. "Bored?"

"Imp needed a lift," Lady told him, "and I'm waiting on the mechanic to get done with Kalina Anne. He's supposed to call me any time."

Imp looked up after Lady had finished speaking to say, "I came by to letcha know that I found out some information, but I don't wanna tell ya until you can come down and focus on it."

Hearing this, Dante said, "I'll be down once Regan's done playing with my fixture."

Regan wanted to get offended, but she just couldn't. She started laughing instead. "Please tell me there was no innuendo in that."

"Regan, this is Dante," Lady chimed in. "There's innuendo in _everything_ he says."

"Good point," the redhead snickered out, swatting Dante's hand when he tried to move the flashlight back and forth to make things difficult on her.

It was then that the front doors opened again. Lady, Dante, and Imp looked over to see Marvin walking into the office wearing his police uniform, holding Evelyn's hand who was trailing along behind him. He'd come by to take her out on his lunch break.

Looking up toward the top of the ladder, he smiled and asked, "Renovations still underway, huh?"

"Something like that, how was lunch?," Regan asked.

"Good. Evelyn got mint chocolate chip icecream, and I brought some over for you."

"Did they have any strawberry swirl?," Dante asked, looking down again. He saw Marvin holding up a bag that apparently contained what he was looking for, and he grinned, "That's what I'm talking about."

"I'll just go put them up so they won't melt," Marvin said with a smirk. "I've got to get going though, so I'm gonna run once I'm done."

"Hey Evelyn," Dante called down after Marvin had left the room for a moment, "you scared of heights?"

"Don't answer that, Evelyn," Regan instructed her. "He's trying to weasel his way out of this."

Evelyn had smirked and Marvin walked back in, seeming to be in a hurry, though that didn't stop him from patting Evelyn's head on the way out of the door as he said, "Don't let Dante con you into any work."

"I won't," she called back playfully, and said goodbye as Marvin left.

Regan had put her tools away, and they both began climbing down the ladder. Well, she did while Dante slid anyway, which shook the ladder and jolted it. Regan steadied herself, then rolled her eyes, saying, "You're determined to make me fall aren't you?"

Smirking, Dante walked past her, swatting her ass as her feet touched the floor, and she smacked at his hand. With the passing flirtations and a shake of her head over them, Regan looked down at Evelyn to ask, "So, did you enjoy lunch with...," before she stopped, seeing that Evelyn was completely transfixed on something in the room. Looking over to see where the line of sight was direction, she noticed that it was Imp whom she was focued on, and likewise, Imp was staring at her in return.

"Evelyn, that's Imp, he's–"

"Regan," Imp started, "come'ere."

Regan narrowed her brows, but then she heard Evelyn sigh. Looking back and forth between them as she stood up straight, the words they'd exchanged catching Dante and Lady's attentions, Regan asked, "What is it?"

She'd started walking toward Imp curiously, and as she did, Imp said, "That's not Evelyn."

The words caught Regan off guard, and her brows narrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

Regan turned around to look back at the little girl, and once again, she was caught off guard. Evelyn had leaned against the ladder with a roll of her eyes, lifting her hand to crook all four fingers a few times as if to tell Imp to say just a little more.

"Definitely a demon," Imp went on.

Regan was still staring at Evelyn. She was too stunned to say a word. In her stupor, she heard Dante's answer to the sudden revelation.

"Arias," he rolled his eyes, and when he said that, Evelyn pointed at him as if to silently say _bingo!_.

Arias? Regan looked back at him, and then at the form of her niece before her when, with a man's voice, the small girl said, "It's about time someone caught me at m y game, all of the lace and frills were starting to get to me." In a puff of black smoke, the little girl's form changed to the tall, dark-clad demon.

Regan stared in both surprise and in horror. "_You_!"

"Yes, me," Arias said as if uninterested as he strolled toward them with his arms folded behind his back in the billowing smoke of his black robes, staring at one of Dante's pin-ups on the wall while he walked. "That's nice."

"Where the hell is my niece!"

At the sudden demand of information, Arias looked over at Regan, lifting a single brow. "Now, now, little Gateway, temper. You're starting to sound as irate as my dear ol' dad."

Regan was about to lunge for him, but Imp stopped her by putting his hand on her wrist, shaking his head. He never broke his gaze with Arias as he told her, "Don't let him get to ya."

"So says the tiny demon who'd love nothing more than to pick my brain," Arias told Imp, followed by adding, "go ahead, see what you can find in there," Arias tapped his temple as if to taunt him.

With a roll of his yellow eyes, Imp replied, "I'd rather not, trudging through _that_ wasteland is like sledding in a sewer plant."

Lowering his hand, Arias smirked, then looked over at Dante, ignoring Lady altogether. "I trust my welcome will last just a slight bit longer. After all, I'm sure you got the message from Pearce."

Regan, confused, looked over at Dante to see him nodding his head. "Yeah, I got it. And I'm taking it you'd meant The Vicar, right?"

"Yes," Arias replied, "which I'm sure is the reason why the little mind reader came by, isn't it, Imp?"

Imp sighed out a breath, nodding his head, "Yeah, but I think you need to answer the lady's question. Where's her niece at, jackass?"

Snorting, Arias looked at Regan and answered, "She's safer where _I_ have her than here in the city with The Vicar about."

"Oh yeah?," Regan asked him, folding her arms across her chest, "Because I tore him in half a week ago, so why don't you bring her back here?"

"I would, but tearing him in half," Arias started, turning his eyes toward her but not his face, "will not kill him. After all, you can't kill what's already dead, though I commend you for trying little lady."

Regan pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut for patience. Arias sighed with a dramatic roll of his eyes in seeing the sight, adding, "Just be patient." Waving a hand, he added, "She's completely unharmed, has been in Doc's mountain home this entire time with Marvin."

"But Marvin's _here_–," she stopped herself short, "you mean with _your_ version of Marvin."

Arias raised his finger, "Exactly," then began pacing back and forth before them as he explained, "I loathe children, everyone knows that, but thankfully I've had a nice little pet to keep her company all of this time. She's just been doing what little girls do best, playing with barbie dolls and waiting for her dear auntie Regan to come and fetch her. Just as equally fortunate, I've been able to keep her waiting by telling her that you'll come for her once all of this mess with the monsters has been handled. Children are exceedingly hard to fool, but much easier when the lie is something they _want_ to believe."

Dante was listening carefully even though he looked pretty damned bored, and as Arias explained all of that, he took in a slow breath and scoffed. Turning, he stepped out from behind his desk and walked around toward where Arias had paced. The illusionist came to a stop in front of him, and Dante spoke his mind as he walked over.

"So what's the deal, dark and dramatic? Who is this Vicar? Is that what Imp came to tell us?"

"Precisely. So, do you care to explain it, little Imp, or should I?," Arias asked, glancing over.

Imp rolled his eyes at Arias, folding his own arms over his chest like he might have been a miniature Regan standing there next to her, and he said, "You're the scene stealer, why don't _you_ explain it."

"Oh, really?," he asked sarcastically, placing a hand over his chest, "I'd love nothing more." Arias didn't sound as if he'd meant those words however, sighing softly before glancing back at Dante. "But I'll do it since I know more than he does anyway. So without further ado, The Vicar is," he flitted his fingers as if searching for the words, "Democrities in the flesh, a shell he's created to traverse this world, simply a," he paused, "walking rotting corpse if you will. With the ritual so close at hand, it doesn't surprise me he could finally manifest something like that here. His power is growing the closer to the date we get."

"So," Dante began, "if that's the case, then that's why you were content to hide as Evelyn for so long, wasn't it? You're not here to collect Regan for him, you're just as much his enemy as we are."

"Well, it's much easier to hide in the form of a little girl while seesaw swingin' with the boys in the school and my feet flyin' up in the air, singin' "hey diddle diddle" with your kitty in the middle of the–," he stopped himself, "sorry, I heard that song in Marvin's car on the way over. I hate it when it gets stuck in your head."

Clearing his throat after lapsing into Walk This Way by Aerosmith while everyone rolled their eyes at him, Arias finally told Dante, "You're right however, Dante, and the reward would be...," he trailed off, stepping in just a tad closer, "an offer. I propose a truce between us. Temporary, oh yes, but I do believe that enemies of a common foe can put aside differences for a short while."

"Uh huh, saying I trusted you, which I don't, and neither does anyone else in here. So here's a counter offer. Give me some valid proof that you're not being a two faced bitch and I won't blow your brains all over my floor. How's that sound?"

Dante and Arias held gazes for just a moment after that before Arias finally smiled and looked at Imp. "You said you would rather sled in a sewer plant, but I'm offering you this one rare opportunity to look into my cranium, little telepath, and tell me what you see. Am I truthful, or am I plotting against you?"

Dante, Regan, and Lady all looked down at the short demon, and Imp pursed his lips in thought. Finally, he rolled his eyes and said, "Alright, fine, but if you slip anything in there to show me that I don't wanna see, I'm gonna pay Dante to kick your ass on principle right here, right now."

"Fair enough," Arias replied. "Then please tell me what I'm thinking, and don't worry, I'll refrain from playing any Jeopardy theme music."

Imp sighed in annoyance and let himself read Arias's mind as he'd offered, seeing if there was any motives behind teaming up with Dante and his friends other than simply wanting to get rid of Democrities. It didn't take him long at all to realize the truth either, being let right into his true thoughts, and Imp almost stumbled over.

Regan blinked, glancing from Imp to Arias, before asking, "What is it?"

"Goddamn," Imp muttered. "Alright, he's telling the truth."

"How do you know?" Dante asked him plainly.

"Because he has a level of hatred for Democrities that rivals the one you have for the demons that killed...," Imp trailed off, "you know who."

Dante's mother. Imp had heard Dante thinking about his mother's death one day when he'd stopped by the shop. He didn't know Dante too well then, but understood well enough that the event had hurt Dante a lot, and somewhere inside deep down in a place where the devil hunter would never completely get over it. From what Imp could tell, Democrities had done something of the same to Arias, but Arias kept what exactly it was that had happened locked away from Imp's mind, apparently unwilling to share a vulnerable story of his past.

But Imp, as powerful as he was, had managed to catch a slight glimpse of it anyway, and though Imp refused to show it, he was somewhat shocked over what he'd thought he saw stashed inside of the powerful illusionist's mind.

"What did Democrities do to you?," Imp asked him.

Arias 's expression was completely unreadable as he normally kept it while he replied to the question. "Just suffice it to say he gave me the will and motivation it would take to overthrow him. I've been waiting for this ritual to occur for five hundred years," he added, looking back over at Dante. Any farces he normally liked to play were now gone, and instead, he seemed completely serious, a side of him showing through that was evidently rare to be shown.

With it in place, he told Dante, "During the last Gateway Ritual, Sparda found the Black Moon Temple - as I'm sure you know already - and destroyed it, along with every demon that populated it, except one."

"You?," Dante asked, unimpressed.

"Yes, even though I," Arias smirked, "well, let's just say I wasn't too keen on living back then. In the end however, he handed me a sword named Venom, which I introduced you to in that factory, and told me that he wouldn't deny me a chance for retribution."

"Wait a second," Dante held up a hand and walked away from the demon, asking, "you're trying to tell me that Sparda, who dedicated his life to saving humans by _killing_ demons, spared the life of one, gave him a sword, and told him to go _have at it_?"

"Yes, essentially. Do I need to get the telepath to confirm that as well?"

Dante sighed out a breath, finding it hard to believe. As he did, Arias held up his hands, "I'll be the first one to tell you Dante, in most cases, you'd be absolutely right to doubt me. But _this_ time, you wouldn't. When I heard that Democrities instructed Nathan to drag you into this because of your father, I was extremely worried. Would you like to know why?"

"Sure, might as well tell me."

"Because you're Sparda's son, and if you're capable of even half of the carnage I witnessed your father exude, then I knew that history would repeat itself, and I might have lost my chance to have vengeance."

Arias walked on toward the center of the room, and he began to add on the way there, "This is why I had no qualms fighting you at first, I didn't want you taking my right for retribution away from me. This aside, I was doing fine, I had Evelyn ready, and Regan, as you well know, was put into place, but it all started falling apart, and all because of Democrities and his need to drag _you_ into it. And knowing the untrusting nature of demons, Democrities decided to release his Vicar form and come collect the Sacrifice and the Gateway on his own because he'd lost faith in me, not that he had any to begin with.

"I found myself unable to continue without some extreme plot revisions after that, namely taking on the form of the girl while putting her somewhere that she wouldn't be found. I couldn't let Doc have her. He was in line to take Nathan's place and would have told Democrities' minions exactly where she was. So I took matters into my own hands and killed Doc, then whisked little Evelyn away while Marvin and dear Lady were distracted."

Lady sighed, remembering that night vividly. "So, now The Vicar is here. What are you planning besides that? To keep Regan and Evelyn safe until after the time for this ritual passes?"

"Not specifically," Arias replied. "In two weeks, when the next New Moon rises, or the Black Moon as those ancient humans called it, Regan will find herself unable to resist heading to the Temple any longer. You might have already felt it, Regan, those odd changes to you becoming more and more noticeable? As if something's calling out to you? And you may have even considered going to the temple just to check it out on your own."

Regan didn't want to admit it, but she gave a nod of her head. "I hadn't wanted to go check the temple out, but I have been curious about it. It's popped in my head a few times without reason."

"Mm hmm," Arias replied, looking over at Dante. "She'll eventually seek the Temple herself, out of mindless need. She'll just feel compelled to go there, unreasonably, to the point that she'll nearly feel insane if she _doesn't_ go there. So whether we keep her safe or not, she would still go anyway."

"And what about Evelyn?" Regan asked. "This ritual can't proceed if she isn't there to be killed, can it?"

Arias smiled only slightly, turning to face Regan as he explained the answer. "Evelyn is the one variable of this whole messy plot I could actually control. Keeping her under the impression she was safe with Officer Holt in the mountain home - while simultaneously making you all believe she was the same in your care - has definitely helped to keep the focus off of her. Though, all of it's still in the air," he waved a hand with a roll of his eyes given over his next words, "especially now that _my_ little secret has been let out of the bag."

So, basically, with his emergence, it might be easier to figure out exactly where Evelyn had been taken. Dante also had the thought that if they went to get the child, Regan would eventually seek to go to the temple without her own free will in place, and also with the Vicar around, it would make it twice as risky for the child to be in Capulet.

Reading his thoughts, Imp spoke up, "Evelyn needs to stay in the mountain home."

Regan gave Imp a surprised look, and then turned it on Dante with even more expression when he added, "I'd call you a mind reader, but that's already obvious."

"Dante," Regan shook her head, "are you serious? Keep her in _his_ care," she waved a negligent hand at Arias.

"I'm so thrilled for your confidence," the black clad demon remarked sarcastically.

"Look," Regan snapped at Arias, glaring over at him, "I already don't _like_ you because you _killed_ me. Whether or not you're seriously set on some kind of revenge trip against your father, I'm _still_ not going to be excited about leaving my niece in your care."

"I'm not excited either, but what has to be done, well, speaks for itself."

Dante didn't seem to be too interested in the conversation anymore. Instead, he'd actually picked up one of his pool sticks and started setting the table up. When Regan saw this, she looked at Lady with an expression that asked 'what the hell?' and then glanced back over at him.

Dante wasn't oblivious though. But he didn't comment, not just yet, asking Imp, "Feel like playing a round?"

"Sure thing," Imp replied, hopping down from the desk before heading over to the pool table where Dante lifted him up by the back of his shirt to stand on the edge of the table. "Got a mini-stick? Any references to what's in my pants and I'll kick you."

Dante had just grinned, turning to take one of the regular length sticks to hand it to Imp even though it was about twice as long as he was tall, replying, "Sorry, just the regular ones."

Imp shrugged and took it before he heard Regan asking, "So you're not even going to discuss this?"

"There's nothing to discuss," Dante replied. "You can leave her in the mountain home where she'll be fine, or send someone after her, potentially leading the rotting corpse to her, or bring her here where he already is and where you might go a little nuts in two weeks and head for that Temple. It's best just to wait it out until all of this bullshit can run its course."

"Wait it out?" Why didn't Regan feel as if she could do that? She agreed with Dante's points, but waiting it out just didn't seem to be a viable option to her. Neither did just standing here any longer. Not to mention, she didn't know _what_ she could say anyway. With a sigh of breath, she muttered, "Fuck this shit," and turned to walk away, snatching Demoncaller from where she'd left it resting in order to head up and onto the roof of the shop through the ladder upstairs where she'd learned that Dante liked to spend some of his time alone in thought over the course of the previous week.

"Well," Lady started once Regan left, "I think she took that well. Though, I can't say I'm excited about your new alliance, but what do I know? He's just the son of an enemy."

Dante gave Lady a shrug, and he replied with the words, "She'll be fine shortly. As for the Drama Demon here, I think, if he'd wanted to cause trouble, he could've done so being in Evelyn's disguise a long time ago."

Lady knew he was right about that definitely, but she still didn't like it somehow. Though, what was there to like about the situation? "Well," she started in forced acceptance, "if you need me, you know how to find me. I'll let you know if I spot any rotting corpses walking around."

As she headed to the door, leaving just the three men in Dante's office, Arias muttered out, "I'm such a likeable devil, I almost feel choked up by the excitement." Then he glanced at Dante's desk and saw the picture settled atop it. For a moment, he looked over the visage of Eva, his memories taking him back to the last Gateway ritual and what Sparda had told him.

Mundus was the cause of what had happened with Dante's mother, where Democrities was one of the causes for what happened to Arias five hundred years ago. Arias wasn't about to spill the beans to Dante however, not about Mundus killing his mother, or about the Demon King's workings over Vergil Sparda - sadly, Vergil's fight hadn't gone victoriously.

Arias knew that whenever Dante found Vergil again, _that_ was when he would learn of the truth behind his family's demise, and in the meantime, Arias wanted Dante's head clean and clear of anything distracting in order to make sure his _own_ plans went smoothly.

But in seeing the picture of Eva, Arias knew that he and Dante had more in common than would _ever_ meet the eye.

But Dante caught Arias staring at the picture of Eva, and he didn't like it. So he asked, "Care for a round, Black and Mild?"

"No actually, Sparky," Arias looked back over at them. "I'm going to go walk about. If at all possible, I'd like to see threats coming before they arrive."

"Suit yourself."

Arias did just that, vanishing in a puff of black smoke that wafted away quietly. Dante just turned his pool stick down to the table and hit the ball while Imp leaned on his own pool stick, the end against the floor, his hands wrapped around the top of the object.

"So, you're taking this pretty calmly. I thought you'd at least be pissed that you'd been duped about Evelyn."

"Not really. As long as she's alright, it's no big deal, though I'll have to make sure she stays that way. As far as I'm concerned," Dante started, heading around to the side of the table where the white ball had ended up, quietly judging distances, "if Arias hates Democrities as much as you say he does, he's not going to do anything to betray us. Sure, he might be using us to keep himself safe," Dante lowered the pool stick to the top of his hand where he aimed to hit the ball, "but he's the first demon I've ever met who apparently didn't hate my Pops."

"Since when do you care?"

"I don't." The tip of the stick hit the white ball then and smacked into the red striped one, Dante standing up straight to watch his handy work as the ball fell into the corner pocket. "I just thought it was interesting." Glancing over at Imp, he added, "I thought you woulda picked up on that already."

"Eh, I did," Imp waved his tiny hand, "I just wanted to see if you'd admit it out loud or not."

Dante snorted in amusement while picking his next target on the pool table. "So what about the Drama Demon. Did you happen to glimpse anything else in there that might come in handy?"

"You know, I _did_ see a slight bit of something he was trying to keep hidden. I mean aside from the extreme loathing he has toward his own Dad, and the truth that he wanted to put aside differences without strings attached, it was a memory from a long time ago I almost saw, the reason he hates Democrities so much."

"What was it?"

"Not sure," Imp shrugged, "he closed back up before I could get a good grip on it. But from the short glimpse I got, if I didn't know any better, I'd say it had to do with love, as in the love _of_ someone who was close to him."

That _did_ surprise Dante, and after knocking another ball into one of the pockets, he lifted a brow at the short demon who just nodded his head in return. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Doesn't sound possible, but if you think about it, it kind of makes sense in a way. And the only reason I could ever see Sparda sparing the life of a demon is because he might know how to love or at least feel for another and maybe even sacrifice themselves for their sake."

"You never even met Sparda," Dante reminded him, "how the hell would you know why he'd spare a demon's life?"

"Because unlike you, I studied," Imp told him, grinning coyly.

The ugly face proved to be what knocked Dante's streak off balance, the blue ball going bouncing off the corner of the pocket he was aiming for and he scratched with the white ball. Shaking his head slowly and sighing out a breath, he hated to admit it, but Imp was probably right.

"Why do you always hate to admit whenever I'm right, Dante? Because you never are?"

"No, because I'd hate to have to shoot you right afterwards to cover up my incorrectness."

"I'll keep that in mind," Imp chuckled. He tugged his pool stick up and went to go putt as he liked to call it. On the way over, he asked, "What about Regan? You really think a little time of sitting alone to herself's gonna make this all better?"

"Well, I'd just annoy her even more," Dante pointed out, "and _that's_ not gonna help."

"You actually make sense for once. I guess we all have our moments though."

"Bite me," Dante replied, waiting for Imp to shoot. As he waited, he thought about the situation and let a little sigh of breath. He didn't feel great working with Arias either, but if Imp was right, and Arias hated Democrities as much as he hated demons in general for killing his mother, then they'd probably do pretty damned well to have him on their team.

When it was over, they could always turn on each other and fight just to get over the frustration that working together would cause in them.

Regan was a little different on the other hand though. Afterwards, Dante wondered if she'd leave, go back to the life she'd come from. He didn't want her to, honestly. Even if she lost that demonic power she'd been given, became strictly human once again, he wanted her to stay. Hell, she could be his receptionist. She'd make a hot one anyway.

"Don't worry," Imp chimed in after he'd taken his shot. "She probably won't go anywhere. She feels the same way that you do."

"And that is?"

"Don't lie to me Dante, just lie to yourself. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Dante _did_ know. If Regan was feeling the same way, then they'd gone down a path they hadn't been specifically aiming to without even knowing it. Dante was a little surprised that it he wasn't more annoyed by the notion, but he was actually liking the closeness he'd developed with the redheaded rancher.

He might not admit it out loud to her, but he knew he loved her somewhere deep down. She just needed to realize that despite his indifferent attitude, he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. It wasn't easy for Dante, after all. He'd lost his mother, and then his brother, and even though he didn't like to admit it, it'd hurt him. So the thought of developing feelings for this woman only to lose her to some ritual made it harder for him to come to terms with.

Maybe sometime, he'd let her know. But for now, he was content with the knowledge that the feeling was mutual.


	24. The Plot Thickens

_The Plot Thickens_

"I'm a liability."

Regan wasn't saying those words to herself in some worked up state of emotional distress, but instead, she was saying them to remind herself of her role in this game. She really _was_ a liability. She could snap and put Evelyn in danger, or herself, or anyone else around her. If she could remember that, then things would go by much more easily. Or so she hoped.

The sun was starting to get a bit lower in the sky, making the clouds glow somewhat orange, but she wasn't paying it much mind, just working to get her bearings. When Marvin dropped by, she'd have to let him know the truth about Evelyn. Hopefully, Marvin wouldn't be too upset because Regan knew he genuinely cared about the girl.

"Deep thoughts, Miss Davison?"

Regan's expression soured over the sound of the voice she suddenly heard interrupting her thoughts. In response, she said, "Yes, and it would be nice if you went the hell back where you came from so that I could return to them."

"Ouch. The hell where I came from, hmm? Well, if you wanted me to go home, you could have just said so."

With a sigh, Regan drew her arm up to lean her cheek against her palm, deciding to just ignore the pest for now. But apparently, Arias wasn't going to ignore her because he'd come up behind her, though standing a good bit away, with a few thoughts in mind.

"I bet I know exactly what you're thinking," he started, staring at the sunset and the colors painted across the sky. "That would be _why the hell does the sky turn so orange in the evenings_," Arias stopped, then narrowed a brow, "no wait, that's what _I'm_ thinking. Who knows, Imp's the telepath."

Regan rolled her eyes. Was she really going to have to listen to this? _Not if I leave_. With that sentiment in mind, she turned around to walk back to the entrance at the ladder.

"Oh fine," Arias drew out as if he were hurt. "I deserve the cold shoulder, after all, I stabbed you and made you what you are, didn't I?" Regan continued on her path until she heard him adding, "I also set it up so that your brother would be murdered, blah blah, so many little details to be upset about."

Stopping in her tracks, her eyes going a bit wide, she heard herself asking more than she consciously willed herself to, "You did _what_?" Looking back toward the robed demon with a spark in her green eyes, she shook her head in his direction. "Tell me you _didn't_."

"Oh but I did, _and_," Arias drew out, lifting a single digit as he moved closer toward the woman as if completely undaunted by her angered tone, "I happened to stab him _as well_ the night before, _just_ so he'd have a tougher time trying to run from the Quietuses that you saw killing him."

Regan's facial expression was unquestionable. Seething anger was all over it, and she grabbed the hilt of the weapon she'd been using since the very night this demon had changed her. When she did, Arias sighed a breath and rolled his eyes, "Now, now my redheaded spitfire, do you _really_ think it would be wise to kill me when that would leave your little niece lost and alone for a good, long while?"

Regan stilled her movements, letting out a slow groan that said she was definitely not happy with the situation. Though she still gripped her blade despite what he'd just said, she demanded, "Then why the hell are you _trying_ to provoke me?"

"Is that how it came off?," Arias asked her, seeming legitimate in his curiosity, but who knew if he really was or not. "I'm sorry, provoking you wasn't exactly at the top of my list, Regan."

"Well _what was_!," she asked him on a raised voice that didn't quite reach a yell. "Please make a goddamned point and stop mincing words."

Arias seemed to scoff in amusement, informing her, "Trust me, if I were mincing words, you'd be much more confused right now. If you think I'm here to simply torment you, or provoke you into attacking me - which would both be pointless when there's a threat looming so close on the horizon now - then you're wrong."

Regan took in a slow breath for patience once he'd said that while he moved to her side, adding the words, "As for telling you what I did to your brother, I thought to simply tell you _exactly_ how he died, because you have a right to know. He didn't die a coward, he died trying to do what was right, trying to _love_ his daughter." Arias looked over at her, able to see the emotional response that evoked in her, before he continued on.

"Yes, I helped in the process, and as for you, once this is all over, you may hunt me down to the ends of the Earth if you wish, but for this moment, at this hour, we've a more pressing issue to discuss, you and I."

Regan could only imagine what that might be, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to. So she simply asked, "What's that?"

"Well, I'm certain you _must_ have a question or two about the ritual you're suppose to be the star of, don't you?" He began to step around her, behind her, adding, "Such as the who, why, and how."

He was right about that, and since he knew, more than likely, all of the details about this ritual, shouldn't she take the opportunity? She wanted to, but something in her threw up a warning sign. Surely, this demon was throwing aside differences for the sake of getting revenge apparently, but that didn't mean he couldn't be up to something else entirely different.

"Then what, now you want me to ask so you can tell me how I'll die anyway, so I should probably go kill myself beforehand?"

Arias stopped, giving her a look that said she was out of her mind. "I believe you've mistaken me with my father. _He_ would have said something similar were he in _my_ shoes, but I work on a different level of intellectual brilliance than him, I'm sorry to say. A _higher_ one."

Were all demons arrogant or was she just lucky enough to meet the few that were? Rolling her eyes, she slowly shook her head at him, "I don't need you to tell me anything, Dracula, I'll figure it out on my own."

Arias cringed when she called him that, responding through gritted teeth, "I'm _not _a vampire, _they_ mirrored themselves after _me_." He then turned and followed her a bit more before she could make it to the dormer lining the roof, saying, "But I think you're wrong. While you have no reason to trust me, if you'll simply hear me out now, you may at least gain food for thought."

"Maybe," Regan grumbled, stopping once more even though she felt the need to simply flip him off and walk back inside. But she decided to humor him anyway. "So, what is it you're so willing to impart to me?"

"Well, I'm sure you know by now that you're meant to be a general of a demonic army fit to overwhelm every mortal in this world, don't you?"

"Yeah," Regan said as if it were a no brainer, "I kinda figured that one out."

"Good, I'd hoped you were as smart as you looked," he drew out blandly, then continued, "and you know that Evelyn needs to be sacrificed in order to draw forth the power this army will use. What you _don't_ know, however, is that the person to be sacrificed has to be pure, as pure as you can have them."

Arias let that important fact settle in before he went to stand directly in front of Regan. When she was looking directly at him, he finished with the words, "Now, when I say pure, I don't simply mean virgin, or innocent thoughts. What I mean is a Priestess type of purity, one of those rare humans blessed with divine blood, many of which don't even know they're born that way."

He was right, Regan _didn't_ know that. A priestess? Then Evelyn was one of those rare humans? But, what about Regan herself? Uncertain, she asked Arias, "It couldn't be my family, could it?"

"No, it wasn't," Arias replied, then pointed out, "Her mother."

Regan's green eyes flashed up to the tall demon when he mentioned the word, and she asked, "Is her mother alive?"

"It's possible, I've never looked into it. But for all intents and purposes, if she is, she has _no clue_ that Evelyn is alive for the moment."

Regan's gaze drifted down a bit in thought. The thought that Evelyn had a mother who was still living hadn't even crossed her mind. She figured that, with Nathan having Evelyn sheerly for the matter of sacrificing her, the woman was likely dead, killed by the Cult that was trying to accomplish this ritual.

But now that she'd considered it, really thought about it, it could very well be true that Evelyn still had a mother somewhere, and if that were the case, Regan could find her, and reunite them.

So she asked Arias in an attempt to find out who this woman was, "Did you know her?"

"Oh, I'd seen her around." Arias shrugged a bit, looking off into the distance in thought. "The truth of the matter is that departed Nate had a one night stand with this woman, never to see her again. Demonic powers ensured he would," Arias waved a hand as if to pull the words from the air, "hit the target in one try. She was watched for nine months, at which point I instituted an illusion of her child dying during the birth, and stole Evelyn right from under her nose, if you'd like to know specifics. But whether she still lives is anyone's guess."

Regan found herself disgusted over the story, and it showed on her face when she told him, "You're despicable."

"Thank you, I try to at least live up to regular demon standard after all." Without care to what she'd called him, he turned and began heading toward the edge of the roof, wisps of smoke rising up in the breeze from the bottom of his black robes while the wind went blowing over them both. Regan watched him quietly, having to admit that despite the trickery this Demon was capable of, there did somehow seem to be another side to him that she doubted anyone knew about.

Or maybe that was just more trickery too.

But she still thought of him as a lowlife, and told him so. "I guess you should, being that you're unfeeling and could never know what it was like to have a broken heart."

Arias came to a stop near the edge of the rooftop, staring out at the skyline over the city, and Regan thought he might give her another indifferent rebuttal of those words. But he said nothing, at least, not at first. It took him several moments, and when he finally replied, Regan hadn't been right about the type of response he would give.

"Just how, Regan, do you think I'm able to manipulate illusions so well? You have to have an understanding of how something works before you can duplicate it."

That made a little too much sense for Regan's tastes, and she pursed her lips over the notion that he knew exactly what it was like for someone to feel, be caring, kind, and humane. So she asked him, "If you can feel, then how in the hell could you stomach stealing a mother's child from her?"

His answer seemed to be given easily enough. "Because the need for revenge I feel is so great, it consumes all other considerations. I don't care for that mother's heartbreak. I've waited five hundred years for this ritual to finally occur again, the only chance I will ever have to be done with my father, and nothing will stop it from happening. This is why I came here," he looked back at her. "You are the key to that. Whether under Democrities' orders or not, Regan, I would have stabbed you that evening, and changed you into what you are now. Democrities _has_ to rise before he can fall. Dante knows this, otherwise it's a trip into hell for him, and I do mean the depths beyond even the plane where Dante has visited."

Dante had been to hell? Regan could only wonder when that was, but she stayed quiet while Arias spoke.

"He knows that Democrities needs to stick his decaying face into the spotlight before all can be said and done."

Regan got very confused by these words, glad she'd opted to stay now instead of simply going back downstairs. Walking toward Arias, she asked, "But if he rises, Evelyn has to die."

"Not necessarily. And herein lay that which you need to know specifically. So I've a question for you." Arias turned to face her completely. "What did you think you would end up doing once you arrived at the Black Moon Temple?"

Regan hadn't thought that far yet. So she shrugged, "I don't know."

"I, on the other hand, do. The seal Evelyn needs to be killed in order give power to Democrities' army. But the seal _you're_ going to break once you arrive at that pedestal, is the seal that Sparda placed on Democrities himself ages ago, including the rest of his power."

He seemed to let that sink in before going on, "Unlike now, this power will shift you completely into a demonic force, and while you will retain some semblance of your humanity, you'll be in constant demonic form. Now, don't let this scare you," he told her with a smile on his face that was meant to be comforting, but somehow fell far short of that mark, "it doesn't mean you'll remain that way forever. Not if a certain Devil Hunter manages to hit the mark once Democrities pops in to say hello to everyone."

Dante, Regan thought. "So, you're saying then that I'll have to open the seal that's binding Democrities no matter what, and if Evelyn doesn't die, he'll never be able to raise his army."

"Why, I do believe you're catching my drift!"

"God, do you have to be so...dramatic all of the time?"

Lifting a singular brow, the illusionist replied flatly, "No, but for someone as colorless as I am, I figured flamboyance wouldn't be overdone."

Regan rolled her eyes, sighing out her breath. Looking to the side, she decided not to question him on the way he usually acted, and instead asked the last question she could think of. "Does Dante know anything about this?"

"Probably not," Arias informed her, "he's a thrill seeker after all. The higher the risk, the better the payout of adrenaline. Nothing gets the adrenaline flowing like a good surprise."

Why the hell did he have to sound so right when he said that? Either way, she supposed she would have to tell him herself. But then a thought hit her, and she looked up at Arias, "Wait. If I can get him to stick his head out, then why not just do it now? Get this the hell over with."

"I wish you could," he informed her sincerely. "But the seal can _only_ be broken on the night of the New Moon once every five hundred years. The sacrifice, however, can be killed to give the army power at any time, though she has to be on that alter when she's killed, and the seal has to be broken before that army can rise into this world."

"Well, isn't that a convenient plot device."

Arias seemed to have nothing to say to Regan's comment, though he apparently agreed because he'd smirked in an annoyed fashion. But something had caught his attention, something down below in the streets just across from them. The sun had drawn lower, and Regan didn't spy anything, looking back up at the illusionist to see that his eyes had gone completely black, no sclera in them whatsoever.

_Creepy_.

"Speak of the devil," Arias said, "something rotting this way comes."

"The Vicar?"

"Unless black cloaks are a new fad."

"Goddamn it," Regan drew out, turning to go to the ladder. She had to let Dante know, even if it might ruin his surprise adrenaline rush, so they wouldn't fall under some type of ambush.

"He did already," Arias responded to her words, and she looked back to see that he was already gone.

With a groan while she continued to climb down the ladder, Regan muttered, "I hate him so fucking much."


	25. Showtime

_Showtime_

Dante looked up from the game of pool he was getting beaten at when Regan opened the door and came down the steps quickly. Lifting a brow at how fast she was moving, he listened to what she said as she grabbed her coat from the hanger.

"Arias spotted The Vicar coming, but I have no clue where _he_ went."

In hearing this explanation while watching Regan as she tugged her coat on before flipping her red hair out of the collar, Dante settled the end of his pool stick onto the floor casually and asked, "Arias followed you upstairs, huh?"

"Yeah, and told me something very interesting too. I'll have to tell ya later though."

"Slow down, babe," Dante informed her, leaning back against the wall, apparently in no rush despite the fact that he'd just heard that death was on his doorstep, in a literal sense. "Even _if_ he's coming this way, you should probably stay here instead of sticking your pretty face out where he can see it."

"Dante," Regan sighed, "he already knows where I am more than likely, and I don't want him getting any closer, because I've been putting too much work into your shop to see it get ruined."

Dante smirked, lifting his arm and settling his pool stick on the rack, somehow finding a good bit of enjoyment in the idea that Regan gave a shit what happened to his place. "Alright, fine, but I doubt that–"

Suddenly, he was cut off when he heard a sound as if some type of power was swirling about, and he glanced up. Portals were opening. With a roll of his eyes, Dante grumbled, "Goddamn it, not this shit again."

Imp groaned as well, moving toward the edge of the pool table without question, leaving the stick he'd been playing their game with behind. Turning, he climbed down while Dante moved past him, and once he was on the floor, he called out to the demon hunter, "Don't worry, Dante, I'll letcha stay in my shop again if it comes down to it."

The last time Dante's shop had been wrecked - when the tower of Temen-Ni-Gru had been raised - Dante couldn't get through the front door, let alone get to his room to sleep in it. Imp had let him stay over for a few nights until enough debris could be moved out of the way that he could do anything in his shop at all.

Dante wasn't going to let that shit happen again though.

"Be careful, Tiny," Dante told Imp, grabbing Rebellion as he heard the groan of demons dropping out of the portals and into his shop, the same long tongued Quietuses that he'd fought before at Blackwing Creek.

Regan let out a sigh when she saw them, the lumbering demons turning toward them while she gripped the hilt of her own blade. "Yep, he's definitely close."

"We'll just take out the trash and then go up on the roof," Dante told her in response as he'd hoisted Rebellion against his back, "then have it out with the big baddie up there."

He'd said that just in time to dodge an attack by one of the creature's tongues, turning his sword to sever the appendage before he rushed in to flay the bastard in two. As blood erupted from the demon's torso against Rebellion's blade, Dante used his free hand to grab Ivory from inside of his jacket and flipped her around deftly, letting off a spray of bullets at another demon to his left, effectively knocking his enemy backwards and into the wall.

Regan's guns were a little less effective against these creatures - just a normal pair of six shooters that weren't extremely effective which she'd learned in her encounter with The Vicar, and besides, they weren't in one piece currently anyway. Dante had taken them apart in order to soup them up, an effort Regan was helping him with, but they hadn't completed the task at that time. So for now, Demoncaller was Regan's main focus, and she'd just used the weapon to cleave a head from a body, which went flying toward Dante.

Dante had spotted the head before it reached him, and he turned with a deft swing of his blade, hitting the flying cranium like a bat while calling, "Batter up!" The head went flying toward another demon, knocking it backwards just as Regan moved to impale it from behind.

When she tugged her blade from the body, she noticed that she wasn't having as much trouble this time as she had when she'd previously fought The Vicar, but it wasn't because of any skills she'd gained. They seemed to be more interested in attacking Dante, a good six of them heading toward him now that she could count right off the bat, and she remembered what Arias had said about Democrities' desire to take the demon hunter out.

It was plain to see that Democrities hadn't changed his mind with everything going on, which gave Regan a huge upper hand in this case. She could use their distraction with Dante to help him much more easily.

Or so she'd thought as she tried to start moving, seeing a tongue darting out in front of her suddenly in order to wrap around her waist swiftly, lifting her from the ground with a fast jerk of motion. Regan was jerked up so hard and so fast in fact that she found herself slammed into the wall above Dante's office desk before she was pulled back again, just barely managing to hold onto her blade in the process of taking the hit.

She tried to twist her arm to turn it and use against the appendage that was binding around her torso and left arm now, hearing Dante taunting the demons from across the room while she was about to slice herself free. But as soon as she was about to move, another tongue had shot out to wrap around her wrist and hold her arm in place, effectively keeping her from getting out of this predicament.

Grunting, Regan twisted in its hold fruitlessly, cussing before she glanced over to see that Dante was fine despite the numbers against him. She didn't think he was in peril, but this was just fucking annoying, and she called her warning to him, "Kinda stuck over here, give me a minute."

"No troubles, sweetheart," Dante grunted out as he sliced his weapon into another torso, then, in the same blow, severed another tongue flying toward his side.

Dante turned toward the demon whose tongue had just been cleaved off and kicked him backwards, sending him flying onto his back. Swinging Rebellion in one hand - a feat Regan knew wasn't easy because that sword was damned heavy - he stepped over the monster and stabbed the blade down into his body with a gush of blood flying upwards and then splattering onto the floor.

"Too bad they can't fight as good as they are ugly. Might actually be a challenge then," Dante said, turning to see what kind of situation Regan was in when a tongue wrapped around his ankle and tugged him upwards, pulling him into the air upside down. Like Regan, Dante held onto his blade, but these guys seemed to be faster than he remembered, a long tongue slithering around his wrist to keep him from using his weapon, and even though he jerked on his arm and actually managed to tug the demon around a bit, he cringed in pain when he was stabbed, one after another, by the sharp appendages holding him in midair now.

All he could feel were various parts of his anatomy being punctured again and again, and he lost count after the fourth time. Regan could see it all clearly, at least six of the demons impaling him again and again, his blood going splattering everywhere, dripping down onto the floor below in red dots.

"Dante!," Regan yelled and jerked on her arm. She knew he could take abuse, but fuck if she wanted to just let it happen.

Dante went limp, every movement he made painful - but not anything he'd never done before. With as many times as he remembered getting impaled, he was starting to think there was an invisible sign floating around him somewhere that said 'Stab me, I won't mind'.

He did have one arm free though, and he used it to go for one of his guns while hanging and impaled so many times. "That all you got?," he grunted out, managing to grab the handle of Ebony, but the Quietuses moved again, preventing him from tugging the gun out of it's holster. They jerked him and then turned him to be slammed down into the floor between where they stood around him, knocking up a bit of debris as they created a crater with his body. To top it off, he could feel the slack taking up in order to do it once again.

Now Dante was getting _really_ irritated.

"You shouldn't do that you know," came Arias's voice from the stairs. The sudden sound got the Quietuses attention it seemed because they hesitated in lifting Dante in order to body slam him again.

The hesitation made Arias smirk and add the words, "But you're too late."

Dante triggered. His body shifted to his demonic form, and with the extra strength lent to him in that state, he pushed himself up quickly and grabbed one of the tongues still impaling him before jerking it inward. The demon he'd grabbed went flying toward him, and right onto his blade as he ripped his arm free of the way it'd been bound, just before he turned the weapon and, with the demon still impaled on it, took off the head of the next closest to him.

The appendages that had impaled him were torn free one by one as he moved, too pissed to care about the pain they'd caused him. As he beheaded the second demon, the body impaled on his blade dislodged itself with the force of his swing, and Dante didn't stop. Amidst the slaughter he was bringing down onto his enemies now, tongues, arms, and legs fell to the floor.

He was moving far too swiftly for Regan to keep track of, but she did see Arias disappearing from where he'd been standing on the stairs only to reform behind the demon that was holding her arm into place, followed by severing the tongue with his sword Venom, which allowed her to cut herself free. As she sliced her way from the bondage she'd been held in, she turned Demoncaller in her hands as she fell, bringing the blade right down onto the Quietus that had grabbed her, slicing him in two down the middle.

Arias had finished off the other with a swift stab to his gut and not a lot of fuss, when Regan looked over at him. He stood up straight again and then glanced at her in return, holding up his hand, "Don't thank me, I hate those awkward moments of sentiment."

"Good, because I didn't want to," Regan replied, looking over to see that Dante had finished off every Quietus that had impaled him in a demonic rage, and was now fading back to the visage of his normal self once more.

She moved toward him when he turned and put Rebellion onto his back again, shaking his head, "These things are really starting to piss me the fuck off!"

"I can tell," Regan replied just as she stopped next to him, then looked around. "On the bright side, they didn't ruin anything that can't be fixed easily, except maybe the floor there."

Strolling by them at that time, Arias pointed out, "You can assess the damages later. The Vicar is almost here."

Dante rolled his eyes, "Yeah, where the hell were you? Eating popcorn?"

"No, it gets stuck between my teeth. Cake's tastier."

"Whatever," Dante grumbled, heading up the stairs so he could get onto the rooftop and maybe snipe the bastard who'd caused all of this before he arrived. Regan followed him, and they ended up on the roof just a moment later where Arias had simply teleported himself to, standing on the edge looking out over the roadways.

"See him?," Dante asked.

Arias's eyes had turned black once more, and when Dante saw it, his expression wrinkled a bit, but he listened when Arias informed him, "No, but he's close."

"So what, he's just waiting in the background while he sends his bitches out to kill us off?"

"He _is_ a coward," Arias agreed, only to be responded to by a voice that sounded somewhat faint, softly feeble, coming from directly behind the three of them.

"You've always underestimated me, Arias. That is why any plans you have against me now will fail."

They all turned and looked back, the cloaked individual one that both Regan and Arias had met before, but one that Dante was only just now getting to know. Dante lifted a brow at the skinny looking freak, his pale skin and nearly stark white eyes watching them from under the hood he wore.

Dante wasn't impressed.

"_You're_ The Vicar?" Dante scoffed and then shook his head, "I don't know whether to fight you or find you a priest to give out the last rites."

"Dante Sparda," came the return, "your father wasn't quite as loud mouthed as you are."

That just made Dante grin. With a shrug, he spoke, "Well pops needed to get with the times. I'm the improved version." The line was spoken while pointing at himself without any lack of ego. Then he lowered his hand and took a few steps toward him, though not completely close, asking, "So, you want a piece of me, too? Well, line up pal, I got demons from all over who've been trying to kick my ass for years now, but still haven't managed to do it. You're just another face in the crowd. Uglier than most, but still just another face."

The Vicar didn't seem to be impressed, just as Dante didn't, looking from the Son of Sparda and to Arias, then to Regan, both standing behind Dante and to his sides, Arias on his left, and Regan on his right. As he did this, while a soft breeze blew and the sun was drawing down enough to turn the sky a deep tone of purplish blue, he reached up and removed his hood from his completely hairless head.

With the action, a few bugs began to fall out of his robes, some of them crawling inside of it around the collar, and Dante cringed when he saw this. "Damn, you should get something for that shit before you give my shop a bug infestation."

"The curse of the Succubi Queen," Arias spoke informatively. "Even in this form, in this realm, he can't escape it. Forced to eternally rot until he'd met her standards."

Dante lifted a brow, though he kept his gaze settled on The Vicar, asking, "The Succubi Queen? What'd he do to piss _her_ off?"

"She's my mother," Arias replied. "She cursed Democrities to rot until he freed me from torment. It's a long story," Arias replied.

Apparently, the story held more interest to Dante than The Vicar did however, because he looked back and asked, "Seriously? Your mom's the Succubi Queen?"

Arias didn't look as if it were something to gloat over, simply informing Dante, "It only means she's more of a slut than most. _He's_ her son too, after all."

Dante cringed and looked ahead again at the shell of Democrities standing before them. "Damn it, why the hell do I ever ask when it concerns demons! That's fucking disgusting! You did your own mommy!" Dante looked like he was about to be ill, and Regan wasn't too far from the same fate.

"Guess that means we can legitimately call him a motherfucker," Regan groaned out.

The Vicar didn't speak, only began to step toward them, and when Dante noticed the movement, he reached for his weapon, becoming a good bit more serious than he had been. The demon reached for the clasps at the top of his cloak, and tugged them free, the material billowing away in the breeze as he stepped in closer, leaving his body exposed, and Dante couldn't help but think to himself _this shit just keeps getting more and more disgusting_.

But it wasn't the sight of some nude male anatomy that made him think that - apparently this shell didn't _have_ any male anatomy. It was, instead, the ill-formed body that made Dante think what he had, one that had chunks of skin missing in several places with blue and purple welts here and there. One that was even hollowed out in places from the looks of it, empty caverns in the torso where maggots and centipedes were crawling in and out of, festering. As for the male anatomy, there was nothing there but a missing patch of flesh, something neither of the three standing together now looked at.

"It's time," The Vicar spoke solely, just as his body began to contort unnaturally. He came to a stop in his path, his arms folding in as he grunted, the joints breaking with gruesome crunches of bone and flesh, the skin along his spine splitting open with spikes that tore through his back.

When his mouth opened, several long, sharp fangs, dripping with drool and blood, could be seen protruding from his mouth, and one of his eyes fell out of its socket, hanging grotesquely against his cheek, a red glow emanating from behind it.

It was sickening to watch, extremely so, but the human mask the creature wore was soon torn away completely as the beast unleashed itself onto all fours, eight feet in height of foul smelling, blood covered skin that glistened in the dying light, a solid black color. The head was elongated almost like a horse, red glowing eye sockets leering down at them while it raised itself to full height, sharp talons lining each digit on his front and hind legs, and a spiny tail whipped about behind him dangerously.

The creatures ribs were sunken in, as if it were mostly a skeletal frame bound together by flesh, tendons, and some muscle - the most notable being the heart that was pumping with a low gurgle in its chest, a black organ that look just as decayed as the rest of him, pulsing disgustingly.

"That smell!," Regan couldn't help but exclaim, honestly about to throw up because of it. It was strong enough to knock someone over literally.

Dante couldn't have agreed more, saying, "Gonna need a shower after this one. But you're right, ugly," he swung his blade up to point at the creature ready to attack them now. "It's time. Time for you to go back to hell, or as I like to call it," he crooked his fingers to tell the beast to bring it, "Showtime."


	26. Decimation

_Decimation_

The Vicar let a shrill roar as Dante called the game into play with his taunting words, and made his first move, which was to eliminate a player.

The creature seemed to be able to move swiftly, and it turned to the side suddenly, without warning, would have caught either one of the three off guard with the movement, whipping its tail in their direction. The person who managed to take the blow out of the three however was Regan, and the snap of his tail caused her to go reeling backwards from the force. Knocking her away from the game, Regan couldn't help but let a startled yell just before she wound up hitting the upraised edging of the roof behind them with her back, flipping over it with her momentum, which sent her tumbling over it completely.

Demoncaller went flying out of her hand and spiraling down to the street below while she just managed to grasp hold of some piping on the side of the building that Dante lived in to stop her own descent. It was barely a second later that she heard her weapon clinking on the roadway below, and she looked down to see it laying there in the alleyway between the buildings uselessly. She could've worked her way back onto the roof top, but she needed to get that sword first.

Dante didn't have time to turn and try to grab her because the Vicar had swiped a sharp set of talons at him that he had to evade before returning a blow with his sword back to the demon. But in any event, he didn't have to look to know that Regan was alright when he heard her yelling from where she was now hanging, "You motherfucker!"

"Nailed it right on the head, didn't she," Dante commented as he rolled onto his back when the demon whipped his tail over him.

Arias leaned backwards to avoid that same tail before he replied, "It's not hard to make fun of him, honestly."

The two men had moved in toward opposing sides of the Vicar after their words were spoken because they'd rolled beneath the attacked tail in opposite directions, but the Vicar was able to move swiftly, leaping out of the way just as Dante and Arias reached him to swing their blades, which caused Venom and Rebellion to meet each other with a loud cling of metal. Dante and Arias blinked at each other following the missed blow to the Vicar, then looked to the side to see the disgusting creature landing close to the edge of the roof, facing them both now as his jaws opened up and a bright light began to shine in his mouth.

Simultaneously, both of them muttered out, "Shit."

Dante and Arias both pushed away from each other right after that when a blast of red energy shot in their direction. It dissipated off in the distance as Dante rolled to the side, put his sword on his back, and drew both of his guns. Taking aim, he mercilessly began pulling the triggers.

The Vicar turned more toward him with a shrill yell, and as he became distracted with the bullets that started piercing his flesh, Arias disappeared in a waft of smoke and reappeared at the beast's side, swinging his weapon at an upward arc to cut the blade into the Vicar's rib cage while it was being hit with bullets. The rotting demonic creature let out a raging roar and jerked in response.

Down below, Regan had just made it to the ground, going on faith and using her demonic abilities to leap from the wall and backwards through the air like Dante had told her she could do, turning a flip over head to land on the rooftop of a building adjacent to Devil May Cry. As she'd landed in a crouch, she took in a deep breath and muttered, "It fucking worked, I'll be damned."

She couldn't concentrate on that now though. Instead, she looked down below, spotting her sword again, and pushed herself up to go running toward the edge of the building, thinking to try it out once more. Leaping off of it and through the air, she landed below near her weapon safely. Briefly, Regan considered she'd really have to start putting more faith into some of the things, but just _some_, that Dante told her.

As she reached for the handle of her weapon, she heard a shrill and looked up, knowing the fight was going full force above her. Grasping Demoncaller quickly and standing to go, she suddenly heard Marvin behind her, asking her name.

"Regan! What in the hell is that going on up there!"

Regan looked back at him, then she took a deep breath and explained, "The Vicar, he's here. You might wanna get out of here."

"Shit. He came for Evelyn?"

"Yeah, but he won't find her," Regan explained, "I'll tell you later, just...," she stopped when she heard something exploding, and glanced up to see a bit of cement coming crashing down toward them - coupled by hearing one of Dante's yells of enjoyment following close behind the debris. Apparently he was having a blast. It wasn't a huge piece of cement falling toward them now however, but it was big enough to kill someone, so she shoved Marvin back by pushing herself into him, barely missed when the rock landed behind her, cracking the pavement beneath itself.

"Fucking hell," Marvin drew out, looking back up. With a nod of his head, he told her, "I'll go give Lady a call."

"Yeah, go ahead," Regan replied, too preoccupied with getting back to the roof now to care too much what he did exactly, as long as he got out of there safely. "Be careful!," she called back to him seriously as she'd gone running toward the front doors again.

Marvin watched her, beginning to head back down the sidewalk, only wondering what could've been going on up there exactly, but he guessed he'd just have to settle for a story. After all, he knew he'd be absolutely no use to either of them against some kind of demon like that.

Above on the roof, the Vicar had been poisoned by Arias's blade when he'd been hit, which had severally pissed him off. For a weaker demon, the blade would've put them under completely, but this one was just a bit too strong for the poison in the sword, so instead of simply turning up its toes and dying, it charged away and toward Dante right after it'd been hit.

Dante flipped his guns back again and grabbed his blade, grinning before running toward the demon rushing him down now instead of trying to duck out of the way like any normal person would. He wanted to meet the asshole head on. As they drew closer and the Vicar reached his front legs out, Dante jumped and pushed his shoe into the top of one of the creature's front talons before it could hit the ground, then pushed himself off of that to send his body into the air. He flattened himself out as he went careening overhead of the Vicar, going into a horizontal roll and narrowly avoiding a snap of fangs as he swung his blade with his spinning body.

The tip of Rebellion caught the demon across the nose first, then the back of the head as Dante's body spun. When he began to lose momentum, he turned and put his legs down, landing on the Vicar's back with a foot planted on each shoulder just before he turned Rebellion and stabbed the blade down into the Vicar's spine.

The reaction was for the Vicar to shrill and thrash while Dante held on tightly as if he were a bucking bronco, one of the creature's claws knocking away a section of the upraised edging surrounding the roof, a chunk of cement flying over the building and down onto the streets below - the same chunk that Regan and Marvin had to dodge below.

As the Vicar thrashed, Dante yelled, "Woo!," and then called out, "Arias, get another piece of him, I think he likes it!"

Arias had already began to head in when he saw his opportunity, turning to slash his blade along his enemy's side, then back again, upward, and around to impale the side of the creature's body completely, his movements swift and just as skilled as any demon worth his salts. Blood went flying and splattered onto the rooftop as Arias cleaved into him as if he were butter.

Dante had grabbed Ivory while Arias did this and turned it to shoot against the back of the demon's skull while yelling, "Be fucking still, jackass!" As this happened, Arias was caught from behind by a whipping tail, and knocked over halfway across the roof, his grip on his blade tearing it out of the demon's body in the process, but their enemy didn't seem to mind too terribly much. After this happened and Arias had come to land, Dante tugged Rebellion up and out of demon's back and moved forward, pushing himself off of the top of the Vicar's head and spinning a one eighty in midair so he could draw his weapon around and slice the end of the tail off of the creature before it could reach him.

As he did this, he noticed the Vicar turning and snapping upwards at him just as its tail had gone flying, and he managed to catch the devil hunter in his fangs before Dante could land. The Vicar got his claws back on the roof with Dante still in his mouth, teeth impaling the devil hunter, and as he'd landed, he'd turned and leapt toward Arias who'd just managed to get up from the blow he'd taken, and quickly thrashed a large, taloned claw down at the illusionist. This knocked Arias onto his back again, the three sharp talons on the Vicar's front paw impaling him so completely that they'd gone into the roof beneath Arias, effectively pinning him where he was.

He then went to chomp his fangs into Dante a second time, and just when he'd moved to do so, a bladed boomerang flew through the air toward him from behind, spinning with a lethal intent. It was the Pegasus weapon Dante had acquired from the flying demons at Blackwing Creek.

The boomerang cut through the demon's rib cage and its heart just like butter, slicing completely through to the other side before turning to go back to the person who'd thrown it. The movement got the Vicar to stiffen up a good bit while Regan reached up to grasp Pegasus from the air just before she yelled, "Forget about me, asshole!"

Dante, who was still hanging with one half of his body in the Vicar's mouth and a line of fangs piercing through the center of his torso, felt the grip of the jaws that had been clasping him so tightly now loosening as the creature let a roar of pain. He'd seen Regan standing there behind the Vicar just a moment before Pegasus had done its damage, so he knew something like that was coming, which would give him a chance to retaliate from his position now.

Still, he cringed over the shrilly sound if the Vicar's wails of pain in his ears before he said, "Dude, you need Listerine, seriously. Tic-tacs ain't gonna help that shit."

But he'd already gripped his hand around Ebony inside of the Vicar's mouth, knowing that the creature was trying to keep Dante right where he was by not roaring in pain too much, teeth still holding him in place. But the loosened grip helped, and with his arm inside of the demon's mouth, Dante turned it and aimed at the back of the demon's throat, then began to pull the trigger.

The back of the Vicar's head was ripped open by bullets, blood and gore spurting everywhere as the grip he had on Dante slackened enough that the demon hunter could slip free of his fangs, and he did so, rolling onto the rooftop with a foul feeling anyone would've had after being in such a disgusting place. The shots had made the Vicar release Arias as well, who rolled over after being impaled for so long, knowing it would take a minute for him to get his strength back, just like Dante.

While the creature had stumbled to the side, Regan ran toward Dante and took his hand to pull him back a bit so the Vicar couldn't launch any surprise attacks despite the fact that he was reeling from the blows he'd just taken. Even though he was heavy, Regan managed to pull Dante several feet back so he could recover, and as she did, she said, "God, you stink now, Dante. I'm hosing you down when this is over."

"I'd be grateful, babe," Dante grumbled out, rolling to his side to push himself up, finally feeling his body regenerating itself as he noticed Arias standing from being attacked as well.

The two men caught their breath, and Arias muttered out, "He's close."

"Then let's all finish this," Dante replied.

"Love to," Regan agreed, even though she hadn't been able to get in as many licks as she would've liked to. Because of that, she said, "Ladies first," and then ran toward the demon to finish it off without question.

Dante grinned over her assertiveness, moving in right behind her. The three of them took their turns flaying the weakened bastard with their swords, slash after slash, moving to avoid any attacks launched at them. The Vicar reared up, thrashing this way and that, managing to swing a few times in retaliation as his body was mangled, until his mouth began to glow a bright red again.

"Oh no you don't," Dante sneered, moving toward the head and bringing Rebellion upwards, stabbing it right into the creature's throat, causing its head to turn sideways, the blast of demonic energy flying out of its mouth before it could completely charge, blood going dripping down from the wound onto Dante's weapon, and Dante himself, spattering everywhere.

In turn, Arias stabbed the demon in the chest just as that had happened, and Regan came around with a slash across the top of his head, cutting the back of the elongated cranium in half. These had all been the final blows.

The body began to spasm, trembling and shaking violently until it suddenly exploded without much warning at all, sending out blood and gore, but worst of all, it sent out a spray of bugs down onto the three who'd just slaughtered the demon. What was left of their enemy slithered into a pile on the rooftop, and Dante lowered his arms, then looked down at himself afterwards and cringed unpleasantly.

He began swiping his hands across himself in various places to get the bugs off while he exclaimed, "Goddamn it. Gonna have pigeons and crows on my roof for a month now."

While he did this, he glanced over at Regan who looked completely horrified being covered in not only the gore, but several creepy crawlies as well, and she suddenly started slinging her arms to the sides, mostly to get the bugs off of her, dropping her weapon before she grabbed her coat and began to tear the thing off while exclaiming, "Fuck! Fucking shit! Oh my god, fucking bugs!"

Dante had to stop himself from laughing at her, but he didn't have to try hard because she'd gone for her shirt, which had a few spiders on it she'd caught sight of, and began to tear that off as well. The movement got him to stare.

Arias was also staring at the spectacle as Regan's shirt was pulled off, leaving her in a bra alone, and he lifted a brow, looked at Dante, and said as if no one could tell, "She's undressing."

"I noticed," Dante returned just as plainly, and they both watched her again, trying to kill what was left crawling on her legs using the shirt she'd been wearing. Once she didn't see anymore, she looked back over at them, breathing heavily, and noticed they'd both been staring at her.

Without any remorse whatsoever, she yelled at them, "I don't like bugs, okay!"

Dante did grin then, but he cringed when he felt something on his cheek, reaching up to slap it away before he noticed Arias disappearing from sight, the crud that had landed on him left in place, falling to the rooftop, before he reappeared completely clean once again. The move only made Dante roll his eyes at the illusionist.

"As much fun as this has been," Arias started saying, "I think that for now, my job here is finished. The Vicar may have been dispatched, but he _could_ return, and if he does, he won't look here for Evelyn again. I'll have to make sure she'd kept out of sight completely until the Black Moon rises."

With a nod, Dante waved his hand and said, "Go for it. If all works out well, we'll see each other in two weeks and finish this asshole off for good."

"Yes, two weeks I'll be agonizing to see the outcome of," Arias returned with a slight roll of his eyes before flipping his blade onto his back where it sank into his robes like smoke was engulfing it, then he looked back at Dante again. "I'm not one for gratitude, but in this case...," he shrugged a shoulder, opened his mouth, waved a hand, and finally said, "you know."

"Yeah, shut up," Dante replied, then added, "you can be thankful all you want to. I'm gonna go find that hose Regan was talking about. See ya." Neither one of them really gave a damn after all.

As Dante turned to go inside, Regan looked over at Arias before he could leave and said, "Just make sure Evelyn's kept safe, okay?"

Arias lifted a brow, then he leaned in a bit, saying, "After five hundred years of waiting for this, I think you can count on me to do just that. By the way," he waved his fingers upward toward the top of her head with a slightly hesitant expression on his pale face, "they're in your hair. You know...maggots and...whatnot."

Regan blinked, then went wide eyed and cringed, exclaiming, "_**Fuck**_!," before she turned to run toward the ladder, shoving her way past Dante while whining out, "God, not my hair!"

Dante shook his head and walked on, looking back as he reached the ladder after Regan had hurried down it when he noticed that Arias was already gone. Not only that, but there was something floating over the area where the Vicar had been destroyed, left in place of the goopy mess they'd created. It caught his attention, and he couldn't help but wonder what it was, smacking a spider off of his cheek with a grumble before he looked back at the light again. It looked like it was getting closer either way.

Before he had a chance to figure it out, it suddenly flew toward him and slammed into his body, making Dante cringe a bit and fall to his knee. But he could feel the energy from the light coursing through his body, knew he'd just acquired some kind of power that the Vicar had been using, and he looked at his fist and lifted a brow. Balling it tightly as a centipede crawled across the backs of his fingers, a slight red glow began to show, and the centipede exploded in it.

Dante smirked and then stood up straight, walking over to the pile of goo where most of the bugs were still located. He had to try this shit out. He couldn't help but think it was something like the gauntlets called Beowulf that he'd found in Temen-Ni-Gru, except it was just like an extra force to his punches. So lifting his booted foot up, he slammed it down into the roof, and a wave of energy shot out from where he'd just stomped, killing all of the bugs in sight, including the ones on him. He was still covered in blood and a little gore, and it definitely didn't smell pleasant, but at least that was one thing taken care of.

"Alright, I'll take it, and I'll call it," he thought for a second, "Decimation." Dante grinned, then dusted his hands off before he turned to leave the area finally. Regan should've stayed up there for just a few moments longer, he considered, but she'd probably already gotten to the hose. Hell, she was probably already naked in the bathtub for that matter. He didn't waste anytime going to tell her what he'd just found.


End file.
